


Inevitability

by nevercanreadenough



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And only slightly sane, But only because that's just his personality, Dark James Potter, Draco Malfoy tries to be a good friend, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Good Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, It's Not Good, James Potter Being an Asshole, James Potter Lives, James Potter is Dark, Let's go with that, Manipulation, Monthly updates, No Incest, No Underage Sex, Oh, Pansy Parkinson Bashing, Possessive James Potter, Powerful Harry, Ron Weasley Bashing, Severus Snape Bashing, Severus Snape is a father, So Dark, Suspicious Albus Dumbledore, Torture, Touch-Starved, Voldemort is an idiot, because there's no incest, he won't come out of this looking good, is that all?, might go for some redemption, mind the no incest tag, sorry - Freeform, sure, we'll see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2021-03-24
Packaged: 2021-04-11 16:22:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 262,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21562114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nevercanreadenough/pseuds/nevercanreadenough
Summary: After the disaster of her fifth year, Grace Potter gets a strange letter from Draco Malfoy. Still reeling from the death of Sirius, she does as he asks and turns her life upside down. James Potter is not only alive (and suddenly not her father) but strangely possessive of her. The worst part is that she doesn't seem to mind it at all.
Relationships: Harry Potter/James Potter, Hermione Granger/Viktor Krum
Comments: 145
Kudos: 611





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Do not own anything Harry Potter  
No beta, so any mistakes are there for keeps because I'm lazy like that. Unless they bother me endlessly, then I'll fix em.
> 
> This will likely only get updated once a month, apart from the first chapter that I'll have up in a few weeks (so if you're interested keep an eye out for that) because I only have half an idea of where I'm going with this. And by half I mean I've already written the ending and I'm so f*ing proud of myself that I've flooped the middle part and this is me forcing myself to stick to a writing schedule. Hence the monthly updates.  
Chapter titles will be taken (with the exception of chapter 1 and 2) from various songs in Sister Act 1 and 2

The familiar man was lounging against his fireplace, looking like the elegant young gentleman he had pretended to be before his death. He must have made some kind of noise because the man looked up and grinned as he saw who had entered.

“Sirius.” He stated, neither moving nor seemingly put out that Sirius didn't jump for joy at his sudden appearance.

“James.” Sirius said, his face hard and unmoving. The man who he'd known fourteen years ago had not been one to trifle with and he was cautious to believe that this person before him was indeed his long dead friend.

“Not even a hug?” James asked, an edge of sarcasm in his tone that had Sirius narrowing his eyes.

“You're supposed to be dead.” Sirius said with a shrug, making his was over to the abundance of alcohol in the corner of the room without ever showing the newcomer his back. His senses were screaming at him to get out of the room but he ignored them in favour of this new puzzle. Perhaps he had been locked up in this old place too long already, he mused silently as he tried to observe the stranger in the room. It had, after all, been less than a day.

“I'm supposed to be a lot of things.” James replied with the ever present pleasant smile in place. “A father, for one.”

Now Sirius knew for certain that the man was James. Only four people had ever known that secret and while one had been obliviated of that fact, he had assumed the other two were dead. So much for assumptions, he mused silently as he downed whatever he had poured into a glass.

“Hmm.” He shrugged carelessly. “Have you seen her yet?” He asked far too casually to be genuine. James must have caught on to it because his grin widened and turned darker. Sirius held back a shiver and distracted himself by pouring himself another drink.

“I have. I've done several things since I've gotten here. Peter, Sirius? The little rat bested you? Or was it part of your plan to lure my girl in?”

Now it was Sirius' turn to grin malevolently at James. “Your girl? She hasn't been your girl in quite some years James, or did you forget the part where you died?” He snorted. “I didn't need a plan to lure her in, she would have been mine whatever path I would have chosen.”

“So she's yours now, is that it?” James asked lightly, walking over to the only chair in the room before sitting down and surveying his friend.

“Of course she is.” Sirius grinned in triumph. “And the best part is, you can't touch me.”

James feigned surprise. “I can't? Why ever not? Would it taint my blackened heart?”

“Like you have a heart.” Sirius sneered.

James tsked like a mother scolding her child. “Is that any way to speak to the father of the Girl-Who-Lived?”

“You're no more her father than I am.” Sirius scoffed, downing the second drink and moving to stand behind the settee, watching James with a caution he hadn't had to use in at least a decade. He silently marvelled at how quickly old habits never really died out.

“Hm, no, I suppose I'm not. Then again, the only other person who knows that is...you.” James said, cocking his head and smiling pleasantly once more. His eyes though, his eyes were as cold as the frozen winter nights and Sirius suddenly knew without a doubt what the man would do to him.

“I have a fail safe in place.” He said slowly, watching James' facial expressions and became frustrated when nothing shone through.

“I would be disappointed if you didn't.” James stated absently, taking out a pocket watch and checking the time.

“You can't have her.” Sirius suddenly snarled, impatient and angry that his old friend would take her away from him.

James smirked at him. “You don't seriously believe I'd let you have her, do you?” Before he could even blink James was on his feet and he had been slammed against the wall, an invisible force holding him steady as James leisurely made his way over to him. “My, my, Sirius. A handful of years in Azkaban and you've lost all of your training? For shame, old friend.” James mocked him.

“I'll make sure she despises you before I let you have her. She. Belongs. To. _Me_.” Sirius snarled at him.

James grabbed his throat and squeezed tightly as he leaned in, his face a mask of anger that Sirius had seen only once and hoped to never encounter again.

“She will love me while I show her your true colours. It won't be me she will despise.”

“Over my dead body.” Sirius choked out as James squeezed him just a little harder.

“Well. That can be arranged.” James replied, smiling pleasantly once more before dropping the spell and walking to the fireplace. “Can't have you remembering any of this, though. You might do something rash.” He said pleasantly as he pointed his wand at Sirius and muttered “Obliviate”.

Sirius's eyes widened in shock but the spell hit him before he could have even contemplated moving. In the next moment he blinked, blinked again, and then wondered why he was on the bloody floor at three in the afternoon. He spied a glass on the floor next to him and sighed deeply to himself.

He really ought to stop drinking so much.

\---******---

She twisted and turned, the damp bed sheets wrapping around her like a vice, holding her tight. She moaned, calling out a name in her sleep. A cry of desperation and loss, a dream of what could have been and a reality that had almost been as good.

She was shocked into the darkness of the night, tears running down her face as she tried to recall where she was. Tried to recall what was real and what had been a dream.

Memories crashed down onto her. A battle, a man, a veil of death's very temptations.

The loss of the one man who had opened doors she hadn't known she wanted open. The loss of possibilities, of homes that would never come to pass, of love that hadn't yet had a chance to bloom. He had opened her eyes to the darkness and now she had to struggle to close it again.

It called to her.

Temptation knew her name.

Need wrapped itself around her body.

Want buried itself in her heart.

Loss tore at her very soul.

She sighed deeply and let her heart fall back into its normal soothing rhythm. She had time yet. She had time to put Pandora's box, and all that went in it, back together.

The Saviour had not fallen yet.

\---******---

“So you would like me to order my Death Eaters not to kill the child that tried to kill me? That has been prophesied to bring about my downfall?” Voldemort's silky voice asked. “Why?”

“I would ask that you not kill my future wife.” James Potter replied, watching the man in front of him closely. “Besides, she has only ever reacted to situations where her life was in clear jeopardy, or the lives of those she holds dear. She has never, of her own volition, gone after you.”

Voldemort hummed in thought. James knew it was an act and that the volatile man was on the cusp of brandishing his wand. He'd learned quite a bit since he came back. The one thing he had going for him was that he knew Voldemort. From _before_. When he still had his beloved in his arms. Now he had to win her back and to do that, to really make sure she would be his in every way, he needed the Dark Lord to stop his attacks on her life. James needed him to be sane again. It would take time and effort, but he would make sure it happened.

The first steps had already been taken. Voldemort had more than half his broken and bloodied soul back. Did it make him sane? No. Did it make him slightly saner than he was previously? Yes. Baby steps.

While he was now sane enough not to go after her anymore, it turned out that Albus was becoming quite the problem. He wouldn't let her go so easily. Playing both sides was exhausting. He really didn't know how Snape continued to do it so effortlessly.

“You're speaking of incest.” A high-pitched voice ground out in disgust.

“Lucius dear, do keep your whelp from speaking. His ignorance is showing.” James replied with a condescending smile towards the younger Malfoy. Why did they even invite him in? He was still a child. Useless and unwanted in this instance. Lucius might be trying to teach him the responsibility of a Lordship but the boy had a long way to go if he expected to be heard or respected on his own merit.

“Her name,” Draco Malfoy said slowly, “is Grace Potter.”

“Hm.” James nodded with a small smirk. “It seems like fate that she already carries my name. Best make it real then, shall we?”

“You cannot have her!” Draco all but screamed.

The Dark Lord looked somewhere between faintly amused and a little angry. A mix James could work with. He had always been a favourite of Voldemort's, simply for the reason that he was entertaining and could rile up anyone in a matter of minutes. Voldemort wasn't a fan of his disobedience but was a fan of how he got the job done: swiftly and correctly. So he got the leeway he wanted, whenever he wanted. Now he wanted what was his. He had waited long enough to get to her, now he needed the time necessary to for her to walk the path he would light up for her. He was ready to make sure that she'd walk right into his arms.

“Draco, remember your manners.” Lucius chastised with an eye-roll. Ah, the whelp seemed to be on thin ice, perhaps he could push the boy? He smiled at the Malfoy Heir and watched with amusement as the boy glared back at him in defiance.

“How do we even know he is who he says he is?” Draco continued, oblivious to the undercurrents in the room. James relished the twitching of Lucius' eye and Voldemort's glance of disgust. How he had missed these games.

“Do you doubt me, child?” Voldemort asked, fury barely leashed in his voice.

Hmm, still a little too much on the crazy side then. To fix or not to fix, James pondered as he watched Malfoy junior turn a shade paler than he already was.

“N-No, my Lord.” Draco stuttered out.

“Then when I say this man is trusted, you shall take me at my word. There shall be no more talk of identities.” Voldemort declared, a dangerous temptation to cross him in his words.

James would have taken it, would have relished the opportunity to try his skills against the Dark Lords, but the Malfoy child wasn't even in his calibre and folded quickly. Still had the gumption to glare hatefully at him though. Too bad hiding behind his father's skirts had made the boy into a pompous git.

“So you will wed her?” Voldemort asked him, forcing him to focus on the topic at hand.

“No.” James said with a smile that had Lucius shivering and averting his eyes. “No, I intend to Court her. She shall be mine in all ways. Wed under the Old Ways.”

“And what of the wolf? The mutt has passed, but I doubt the wolf would let you have such a prize.” Lucius asked, trying to find a way into his Lords good graces after his son had annoyed him.

James wanted to scoff, knowing that the son Lucius had raised wasn't one who would be able to stand in the face of war. The child was useless to the Dark Lord, probably only useful in the event that Lucius needed a lesson. He hoped that lesson came quickly. The whelp needed a good cursing.

“The wolf knows. The wolf will Court her too.” James said with a careless wave of his hand.

Remus wasn’t all that important to him in the grand scheme of things, but since he was important to his beloved he had made the effort to speak to Remus about it. If Remus had reacted badly, he would have met an unfortunate end. It would break his love's heart, but nothing would get between them. James would be there to pick up the pieces, after all. Just like he would be now, with Sirius dead and gone. It had been hard, seeing how much she loved Sirius, how easy it was for Sirius to slowly possess her. It was hard watching her smile at him with joy and happiness, something that should have been his. Something that Sirius was taking from him. So it had been an easy decision to subtly guide Bella in the right direction. Beautifully insane Bella. She was the perfect tool and if it was up to him, the first to fall in favour of his beloved. If he got rid of Sirius, it wouldn't be hard to get rid of her.

Fortunately, or unfortunately as luck may have it, Remus' wolf had declared her his ‘mate’. While it was helpful to protect her, it did mean sharing her and he was a selfish bastard at heart. Why share something that is already yours? Remus, however, didn't have a problem with being second, with helping James give her everything she needed on the days he couldn't be there for her. Where he could trust Remus to be there, Sirius would have used that opportunity to turn her against him. Sirius played for keeps so James simply changed the game. And won. For now, he could share.

Was he a little crazy himself? A little insane? Yes, but for her who wouldn't be? The Malfoy whelp certainly looked as if he was. Bullying her to keep her attentions on him. Well, James would have to do something about that soon, wouldn't he?

“So you intend to turn her into a pureblood Lady?” Voldemort asked. “Get her into the proper circles and make her politically active?”

James sighed. “I have no idea how much good old Albus has kept from her. If he wanted the perfect weapon, she's it, so I don't doubt he kept it all from her. She must first come to realize who she is, open the doors to betrayal before I can show her the true way. She will be what she was intended for. My Queen.”

“You think she will believe her long dead father?” Lucius asked sceptical.

“Oh Lucius, I won't be telling her a thing. The goblins will do that for me.” James said with a knowing smile. The goblins were beyond reproach. They did not lie.

“And then?” Voldemort asked, impatient. “She is a weapon of the Light, she will not simply fall into your hands, will not simply ignore the war after the death of the traitorous Black.”

“She will.” James stated confidently.

“You cannot know that.” Voldemort gritted out angrily. Seemed he was losing his patience.

James smiled dangerously. “I know everything about my Lady. I know what she likes to eat, how she sleeps, her preferred clothing, the secrets she has kept from the Wizarding world, from her friends, from those she deems family. I know my Lady and when I say she will step out of the war, I say so with the full knowledge of who she is.”

There was a short silence before Draco broke it. “And who is she then?” He asked, sullenly. Seemed he liked her a fair share more than he had let on. That wouldn't do. Time to break his spoiled little heart.

“_Mine_.” James snarled back. Grace Lily Potter was his and he would burn the world to make sure of it.

Let the games begin, he thought with a smile as the Malfoy Heir glared daggers at his pronouncement.


	2. A What Now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta, mistakes will be made.

During the early hours of a crisp June morning, Grace Potter found herself leaning out of her window and staring at something that made her want to laugh. It was so absolutely silly that she couldn’t keep the small grin off her face. As a matter of fact, she didn’t want to get rid of the grin. It had been a mere two weeks since the end of the school year, since fucking Voldemort had possessed her, since Sirius was murdered, and since her friends had stopped writing her.

_Again._

She was getting seriously fed up with the Wizarding World (as if the previous five years hadn’t been enough) and their will to keep her innocent. Or, well, mainly Dumbledore. Fucking Dumbledore.

She was brought out of her musings as one of the movers, after picking up a rolled up carpet, turned abruptly at what she assumed was someone calling his name. Too bad it coincided with another mover stepping up at the wrong moment and getting hit with the carpet as it swerved in just the wrong way. She burst into low laughter, knowing things like this just didn’t happen in real life but was immensely pleased to have seen it anyway. It made her feel lighter even if it was just for a few minutes.

It had been a difficult few weeks after Sirius' murder. She had been left so utterly alone in the aftermath of everything that she sometimes wondered if there wasn't something intrinsically wrong with her that people just tended to forget she was real and not just her title. It was all made harder by the fact that Sirius had seen her and had been there for her during the tough times. He had been her pillar of strength despite all of his weaknesses and that was making his loss even harder to bear. She was now acutely aware that she had no one. Not even her best friends apparently.

Not that Sirius was the greatest example of a steady mind. It had been easier when he had been on the run and his erratic behaviour seemed to lessen with time. Living with him those short few weeks had her coming to the swift realization that Azkaban wasn't just something to 'get over'. It had far reaching symptoms that had made her wonder what exactly he was seeing when he looked at her. Mostly it had her wondering if what he saw was because of the lingering effects from Azkaban or if it was something true.

Did that stop Grace from letting Sirius guide her into something that was distinctly not godfather territory? No. After Voldemort's return, after Cedric's death, she had needed someone to be there for her and to help her deal with the trauma. The only thing she had gotten was a warm hug from Mrs. Weasley before being unceremoniously sent off to Dursley hell. She hadn't gotten a lick of help and had had to suffer through the nightmares on her own.

She had just managed to find a coping mechanism that seemed to work for her when Sirius had shown up. She had been so unbelievably angry with him. How dare he show up when she had finally managed on her own? How dare he pretend to care when the weeks on weeks of silence said more than he ever could? Grace had refused to welcome him but Sirius had been determined. She didn't know how it had happened or even when it had happened but he had slowly reeled her in. Small things that even now she would be hard pressed to pinpoint, only knowing that it had happened and that she had let it happen.

And if she was being honest with herself, which she usually wasn't because self-reflection could stuff it, she didn't care. Should she care that Sirius was taking advantage of her when she had been at her weakest? Probably. Only she hadn't been and had felt overwhelmingly grateful that she hadn't been alone. Which, upon that blasted self-reflection, was probably something that had worked out in his favour. Being touch starved was something she hadn't ever been able to admit to herself because it came with the unwanted knowledge that she was actively being abused, so when Sirius had died she was faced with the harsh light of truth that she couldn’t keep hiding from herself. Not about this, not anymore.

He had changed something fundamentally inside of her that, even now, still craved what he had given her and because she couldn't be sure what that was, she now had no idea how to fill that void or even how she was supposed to face the things she had hidden from even herself.

Which sent her straight back to square one. No help, no news, no friends. The stresses of fourth year were piled with those from fifth year and were taking its toll on her. Umbridge, Voldemort, Sirius, the prophecy.

When would it end? Why did it always have to be her? Why wasn't anyone ever concerned about her mental health? Because she wasn't ok, she was really fucking far from being ok these days and the swirling mass of emotions she had felt every single day since Sirius had culminated into a total emotional flat line. She was empty. Completely, totally, and utterly blank. There was just nothing left to give.

Which was why she appreciated the little moments of laughter she could still have, the little moments of peace that made her realize that she was still all there, just not whole anymore. Sirius had managed a new way to break her and she wasn't even sure she could hate him for that, not when the thought of him made her want to break down and never get up again.

She blinked into the world again as an owl landed on her windowsill as she absently continued to watch the activity across the street. She took the letter off the owl while watching the movers trying to figure out how to get a too-wide couch through the door opening. For Privet Drive, this was prime entertainment, Grace thought as she opened the envelope. She shook out the letter as she watched one of the movers put down his end of the couch and gesture to the other man with jabbing motions. She grinned before focusing on the letter.

_Potter,_

_You should go to Gringotts and get an inheritance test._

_-Malfoy._

Baffled. That was the only emotion she could identify as she stared at the note and seeing how many emotions she hadn't been feeling lately, this was quite the upset.

First of all, Malfoy?! The git hated her! Why would he send her _anything_ unless it was because he knew something that could cause her turmoil? If that was the case, then what else did he know? Whatever it was, it couldn't have been recent information since he would have used it while they were still in school together. So in the weeks since they had come home he must have learned of something important. Then again, if it was that important and it had the ability to affect her, why wouldn't he have waited until school had started again to throw it in her face? Merlin, Malfoy was annoying.

To trust him or not to trust him?

A loud banging sound had her jumping up and brandishing her wand (which she didn't currently possess, thank you Uncle Vernon) as her attention was forced back to the movers who had ignored the couch problem for the moment and started moving in the other furniture. They had apparently dropped a coffee table and were now trying to determine if it had been damaged in the fall. The new neighbour, alerted to the sound no doubt, made his way out of the house and started talking to them, arms waving around in distress and voice rising high enough she could make out words here and there. She wondered if Aunt Petunia was on the phone gossiping away and being delighted at the semi-scandal that was unfolding before her very eyes.

Rousing herself from her wayward thoughts, she walked to the over-worn mattress and dropped her body onto it, still deliberating the pros and cons of listening to Malfoy. Taking the time to really think about it (something she rarely had these days) she eventually figured that even if the git was trying to do something to her, the goblins were essentially a neutral party. She may not trust Malfoy but she could trust the goblins.

So, to Gringotts it was. She let the sounds of frustrated males trying hard not to get into an argument fill the silence of her room while she pondered the best way to get around her guards.

You know, the ones she wasn't supposed to know about.

\----******----

In the end it hadn't really taken a whole lot of effort to figure out a way around her not-supposed-to-know-they’re-there guards. Grace was somewhat offended at the ease in which she 'escaped' and somewhat proud that no one had seen her.

Well, found out she was missing would be more accurate but it was hardly a James Bond worthy escape. All she had to do was wait until Aunt Petunia went to her monthly spa day and slip out of the house closely following her. Under her invisibility cloak of course (not that that should have made it easier for her to slip away from her guards but since she was the one who was seemingly 'on the run' beggars couldn't be choosers) because if the people watching her were allowed to spy on her without her knowledge (ha!) then she was allowed to slip away without them knowing about it too.

She walked the few blocks over to the bus station and hopped on (still under the invisibility cloak because she didn't have any muggle money and she honestly didn't feel like paying and she would be the rebel she thought she was, damnit!) before getting on the tube (and wasn't that a nightmare while invisible) and finding her way to The Leaky. She only had until four before her Aunt came home to find she wasn't there. While that wouldn't bother either of them, the hag would mention it to her husband, which would no doubt end in some kind of punishment. She wasn't inclined to let either of them make her life even more miserable than it already was.

Gods around, she fucking _hated_ the summer months.

Since she couldn't actually be in the magical world during the summer (someone was bound to tattle on her, she just knew it), she kept her cloak on and waited for someone to open the alley so she could slip in behind them. No one ever told her James Bond must have had several boring hours in-between all the excitement to temper his missions because after waiting twenty minutes she was certain she was about to combust in pure boredom. Thankfully, just as she thought it, an old wizard came through muttering angrily under his breath. She managed to slip through the archway and breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't spent the whole day waiting for someone to open the Alley.

As it turned out, Diagon Alley was only moderately busy during the times that didn't revolve around the new school year. She had no problems staying away from people and thus avoided the awkward 'I know I just touched something' scream of horror. It had happened before and caused for some uncomfortable questions to be asked which she really didn't want a repeat of, thanks.

She stood for a few minutes outside of Gringotts to consider her options of walking inside with her cloak still on (something that would no doubt give her the anonymity she desired but would anger the goblins) or walk in without the cloak on(and please the goblins but make her vulnerable to being seen and thus give up the ruse and all the effort she had put in getting here). She sighed deeply and took off the cloak. The goblins always won.

She stood in line and when it was her turn she politely asked for an inheritance test. The goblin stared at her as if she was a thief and made her feel like she was one before grunting and telling her to wait for her account manager. She had the good sense not to look confused because she was sure he would have tried to kill her. She was sure that was a thing. Well, she had learned enough about the goblins to never ask questions that wasted their time, so she nodded and stood to the side. Luckily for her, not two minutes later a goblin that introduced himself as Nagnok told her to follow him.

See, the most important thing she had learned from the goblins was that they never told you everything you needed to know because they automatically assumed you were stupid. Not because wizards were actually were stupid but because they knew that wizards had a firm set of beliefs that they often refused to waver from. They didn’t like magic they couldn’t understand and quickly labelled it either useless or dangerous. Goblins, who were older than history itself, thought this was dim-witted, brainless, and foolish. Which of course meant that they thought wizards of all kinds were dim-witted, brainless, and foolish. As a result, the goblins frequently left out important details that they assumed wizards knew about and would happily show them later when they found themselves in spot of trouble.

Grace, the ignorant child she was, didn't like showing her stupid so had taken to looking things up afterwards. She had gotten herself an investment manager last year at Sirius’ insistence to help her invest her money so that when she graduated from Hogwarts, she would essentially have enough money to, at the very least, rent an apartment. She had agreed that it was a good idea mostly because she refused to stay with the Dursley's a moment longer than absolutely necessary.

Which, Grace wondered quietly as she followed Nagnok into his office, meant that having an account manager was either the same thing as an investment manager or something very different. Seeing as she had an investment manager, having an account manager seemed completely dissimilar. What she would have really liked to know was whether or not account managers were for personal vaults or just a general title. If the first, then she needn’t worry about anything. If the second, why the hell didn’t she know about it sooner? Having no answer she just shook her head and vowed to look it up later.

“An inheritance test, yes?” Nagnok asked while gathering the things he would need. He wasn't looking at her and she was sure it wasn't actually a question but she nodded anyway. “300 galleons.” Nagnok demanded.

Grace's jaw dropped in shock. “What?!”

“Are you hard of hearing? 300 galleons.” Nagnok said again, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Why the bloody hell is it so expensive?” Grace asked, opening her Gringotts folder and giving him a written statement that allowed him to take no more than 300 galleons from her account. Bloody Malfoy better be right about this or she would rip him a new one, Grace thought darkly. Fucking _300 galleons_! She wasn't made of money!

“This is an extra feature we have at the bank. It may involve possible unknown accounts but if you don't have one, we loose money. This ensures that we don't loose anything in the transaction.” The goblin explained shortly. Grace rolled her eyes. Of course it was about money, she should have known. “If you wanted this for cheaper, you should have gone to the ministry.” He added, a sly look on his face.

Grace snorted at that. That would be a hard '_no_'. Besides the fact that it would undoubtedly be far cheaper than this rip-off she had just paid for, the ministry was under the impression that she was safe and sound under Dumbledore's protection. If she strolled into the ministry in broad daylight she was sure that by the end of the day she would somehow be under the control of the ministry. Thank you Umbridge for that little nugget of information. She hoped the toad rotted in hell though, all things considered.

“Right.” Nagnok stated, turning back to her with a knife and a bowl. “Cut your finger, one drop of blood into the bowl.”

Grace tried not to sigh since she really didn't like losing blood no matter how much it was. This was a goblin, however, and since they were in control of her money (and helping her invest so she could leave the Dursley's as quickly as she could) she grabbed the knife, cut the pad of her index finger and squeezed out a drop of blood into the bowl and stuck her finger in her mouth. She probably should have been worried that it hadn't even hurt.

Instead, she watched with interest as the contents of the bowl (a potion she figured) glowed slightly before smoking. She peered into the bowl right when flames shot out and she hastily retreated to a safe distance as she cautiously checked to see if her eyebrows were still in one piece. Nagnok’s laugh sounded like grinding rocks and she glared at him in offense.

“You could have warned me.” Grace muttered, satisfied that her eyebrows where still in one piece.

“Where is the joy in that?” He returned. She sighed because she knew he was right. If she worked here, she'd have done the same thing.

Nagnok leaned over the bowl and took out a piece of parchment before handing it over to her.

“That's it?” She asked perplexed.

He rolled his eyes as he sat behind his desk and interlaced his fingers. “You wizards always think magic should be more than what it is. More blood, more tricks, more, more, more. Magic is simple in its power. It only needs a drop of your blood to tell us everything, why give more? Unless you want us to spill your blood, child?” He asked, watching her speculatively.

“No, no.” She said hastily. “One drop seems just enough.” She ignored the slightly amused look he sent her and unrolled the parchment.

“Grace Lily Potter, born July blablabla, magical guardian?” She muttered. “What's that?”

Nagnok's eyes grew large. "You don't know who your magical guardian is?"

Grace shook her head. "It says Dumbledore, so does that mean because he's my headmaster he technically has rights over me during the school year?"

The goblin narrowed his eyes at her in contemplation. "Who am I?"

“Ehm...Nagnok.” She said hesitantly as she wondered why he was asking that. It hadn't been that long since they had been introduced, had it? What did his name have to do with her magical guardian?

He glared at her. “No, who am I to you, useless underdeveloped child.”

“Oh. An account manager willing to help me with an inheritance test. Also, rude!” She huffed out, frowning at the insult.

“No.” He growled out, leaning forward in his seat and seeming to hover over her even as he was several feet shorter than she was.

“No?” Grace asked, leaning back in her chair and wondering why her life kept doing this to her.

“No”. Nagnok stated again.

“So...You're not an account manager?” Grace asked, thoroughly confused at the turn in conversation.

“No, I'm your account manager.” He said, fully expecting Grace to understand something she was clearly missing. Par for the course then, she figured silently. Although, this had been something she had just been wondering about, so maybe this was a goblins way of being helpful?

“I already have an account manager.” She pointed out, a little tired of how the conversation was turning out and how uncooperative he was being.

“Who?” He roared as he stood up, a knife suddenly appearing in his hand.

“Extreme reaction.” She mumbled, slightly terrified and eyes darting to every exit in the room. “Windspeare.”

Nagnok huffed in annoyance and put down the knife as he sat down again. “He helps with your investments. I take care of your vaults.”

“Is there a difference?” She asked in confusion and grateful she wasn't being actively threatened. PTSD was going to be her new best friends, she figure silently as she tracked his movements while he stowed his knife away. Weren't they the same thing? Or was he just telling her he checked the numbers on her vault and kept a record of what went in and what went out? Did the goblins even do that sort of thing?

For some odd reason he nodded in approval.

“Gold is important. More important however, is managing your accounts.”

“Right.” That made less than no sense. All the senses had left the room. “Hang on, what do you mean _accounts_? I only have the one.”

He sighed deeply and with great frustration. “Finish reading the test, then we shall continue and I shall explain.”

Oh boy, but was she really starting to hate goblins. She turned back to the parchment instead of commenting. He’d be next to no use if she didn’t follow his directions after all.

“Right then, mother Lily Evans, Evans? Huh, never knew that. Father Severus Snape nee Prince. Oh, he's a Prince?” Grace snickered to herself, imagining Snape as a prince. “Heir to Gryffindor, Heir to Black. That's...odd. What does that mean?” She asked Nagnok. “To be an Heir?” She clarified quickly before he could harp about being vague.

He grunted at her and gave a low simmering glare that she thought was better than him wanting to chop her head off. Bloodthirsty creatures, goblins.

“It means you inherit the Lordships. Would you like to inherit the Lordships?”

“Yes?”

“Idiot magic users.” Nagnok grumbled. “Yes or no!”

“Yes!” Grace almost yelled back. “I just don't know what it means!” She added in frustration. Of course she would get one of the most difficult goblins to work with her, damn her luck!

He grunted at her and wrote something down on a piece of parchment before handing it to her. “We do not live to serve your kind, even if you are far more tolerable than most of them. Read these, they will explain.”

She took the paper and nodded a little dazedly at being far more tolerable than most as Nagnok stood up and walked through a door she was sure hadn't been there before. She always did like to know where all the possible exits where and having random doors appear out of nowhere put her frayed nerves even more on edge.

She blamed Malfoy.

She glanced quickly at what he had written and saw seven book titles that she would have to buy before going back to Privet Drive again. She tried her best not to sigh. She loved magic, loved learning all about it, but some things just bored the living daylights out of her and history was one of them. These seemed like history books and she was not looking forward to reading them. Oh, she would read them, a goblin telling you to do something meant you had to do it and she wasn't an idiot, it would just take her forever to read the whole lot.

She was shaken out of her downward spiral of history hate when Nagnok walked back into his office carrying two boxes. He placed both of the boxes in front of her before opening them and allowing her to see them.

She would have loved to say that the rings were glorious pieces of jewellery that showed the world the possibilities of magic, but honestly? They were fucking terrible.

The Gryffindor ring seemed like a perfectly normal signet ring. Except for the part where the gold looked like an old worn ring would (bumped and dented and slightly dirty looking). The top (flat part? She didn't know the lingo) was a deep blood red and had what she could only assume was the Gryffindor family coat of arms. Looking closer she saw the faintest of etches on the inside of the ring so she figure there was something written there. She didn't particularly want to know what.

Looking at the Black signet ring really didn't make her feel any better. Considering how Sirius had spoken of his family, it didn't take much imagination to figure out that the Blacks had a thing for the Dark. So of course the ring was pure black. Not even black, but fucking ebony. The whole ring. Pure. Fucking. _Ebony_. She could see the faintest outline of the coat of arms but she didn't really feel inclined to look closer to see if that one had writing on the inside like the Gryffindor ring.

She looked at Nagnok with apprehension. “They're horrible.”

He smiled at her and she tried not to check the exits again. “They are.”

“So. Not goblin made then.” She mumbled. Though apparently still a touch too loud because Nagnok looked positively affronted. She cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject just in case it was an insult worthy of retribution. “I just put them on then and poof! I'm a Lord?”

Nagnok just stared at her.

She stared back.

“Alright, alright, I'll put them on. Christ, you'd think you'd be more helpful with this stuff.” She groused, knowing a losing battle when she met one.

“Wizards are stupid.” He replied, watching her.

She rolled her eyes at that and shoved the Gryffindor ring on her finger and was reaching for the Black ring when the world seemed to stop around her. She was suddenly surrounded by heat and warmth and challenge. Something pushed at her core, felt like it was trying to rip her to shreds from the inside out, trying to scatter her in the wind, and then she had enough. No stupid ring was going to be the best of her, damnit!

So she pushed back, fought harder as the weight of power got heavier, got more insistent. But she wasn't a Potter for nothing so she gave as good as she got. It wasn't much longer - a century - before something shifted, something broke, and she could breathe again. There was a new warmth in her magic that she was sure hadn't been there before and a new feeling of freedom she was sure she didn't have.

Opening her eyes, she saw Nagnok staring at her with feral eyes and gave him a weak glare.

“I suppose that sort of thing just happens then?”

His grin showed all of his rather pointy teeth and made her check the exits again. “Indeed. The next if you will.”

She sighed and stared at the ring. “I don't want to.”

“You made me get it for you, you will try it on.” Came his forceful reply.

She felt strongly about sticking her tongue out at him, but Grace was pretty sure he'd cut it out, so she tempered that particular impulse. She reached out and grabbed the Black ring before unceremoniously jamming it on her middle finger. Where the Gryffindor ring was warmth and heat, the Black ring was Darkness and a cold morning where the sun has yet to defrost the grass. Silence and anticipation. A dark coldness that snuck up on you and if you weren't careful, could lure you to death. Where the Gryffindor ring had challenged her, this one slowly crept up to her, sneaking past her defences before it struck true.

While she may have been put into Gryffindor and pulled the stupid sword from the hat in her second year, she was first and foremost a continuing survivor of the Dursley household. That meant waiting, watching, observing until you knew what was going on and what it would mean if you got yourself involved. A feeling of magic she hadn't noticed before gained weight before flashes of her own life seemed to crowd around her, moments in which her more...Slytherin nature seemed to be at the forefront and she growled at the intrusion.

She fought magic with magic and felt the well of power that came with a House tied to the darker side of magic before the intrusion ebbed slowly away and she was left suddenly surrounded by a different kind of warmth. The difference between standing in the sunlight on a summer’s day and being wrapped in a warm blanket on winter’s coldest night.

An added feeling of power ran through her core once again and Grace wondered how much more powerful she had become because of the rings. Apparently she had asked that out loud because Nagnok answered her.

“You have not yet reached your majority. The rings do not add power; they help you unlock the gifts of your line. In this case, I suspect they opened your core to its fullest potential. Something that would not have happened otherwise, no doubt.”

“So the power I feel right now, that's all me?” She asked in interest. Well, that and wondering what this would do to her magic when she started to use it again.

He rolled his eyes and she felt mildly offended. “What did I just say?” He grunted at her.

“I just wanted to make sure. Honestly!” She muttered with a frown. Goblins where a handful, fucking hell. “What now?” She asked looking at the rings that now adorned her left hand.

He reached over and grabbed a handful of files and dropped them in front of her. He bared his teeth at her in what she supposed was another smile but sent chills down her spine. “Now you learn the obligations of your Houses.”

“Obligation of my Houses?” Grace asked faintly. That didn't sound good. That didn't sound good at all.

“You have just inherited two Houses and per the stipulations of the TriWizard Tournament you have been emancipated. I would not otherwise have given you the Lordship rings if you were not of age. You are of age, you have taken up your Lordships, and therefore you have responsibilities.”

“Stipulations of the TriWizard Tournament?” She asked faintly, feeling slightly as if the goblin in front of her had played her.

What the ever-loving hell? More responsibilities? She was only fifteen! She didn't need more responsibilities or even whatever those stupid obligations of her Houses were.

Oh fuckity fuck, what had she done?! What she really should have done was research everything that went into an inheritance test but she hadn't had the means or the time to do it and now here she was, making terrible choice after terrible choice. Did she even know if these choices were good or bad? Or maybe it could be the distraction she needed to garner some space from the horror show that was her life? She had never had the luxury of easy, so why would that change now?

She sighed deeply, her choice already made long before she even put on the rings, goblin interference or not.

“Alright. Tell me what I need to do.”

~~

Nagnok didn't exactly murder her, but it was a close thing. Not only were there House related investments she would need to go over daily (besides her own private ones) to catch up to recent market changes, but there were house-elves and properties and expenses for things she didn't even know existed. Not to mention the upkeep of the vaults and the companies owned by both Houses that needed serious reviewing since some of them hadn't been touched in over five hundred years. She did not enjoy being thrust into adulthood, emancipation or not.

And wasn't that just a fucking surprise! When were they going to tell her that the murder tournament had granted her her freedom? Because according to her newly minted Lordships, she was in the free and clear to not only live on her own, but also to never have to answer to another adult again. Since she was one. An adult. _Merlin_.

She really needed to read those books Nagnok had told her to get because even with all the extra time she had given herself by sneaking out early, the things she needed explained where making progress slow down to a crawl. Since she was in charge of the accounts the goblins couldn't do anything without her approval apparently, so she had to learn and learn quickly if the glare she received after the umpteenth question was anything to go by. She was only grateful it was the two Houses.

Well. _Mostly_ two Houses. Turned out a lot of minor Houses had left their titles to her when the last of the line had passed on after the last war. Being the Saviour meant that they believed (stupidly in her humble opinion since they had never even met her before and she had been _a baby_) their futures would be safe in her hands. Just like the ten vaults full of gifts that were sent to her over the years. She had been 'respectfully' ordered to start going through them all because they were taking up space. She knew the goblins better now than she had before and while they didn't care much about the space since she was paying for the vault itself, it also wasn't earning them any money. She really didn't want to do anything with those vaults just yet but Nagnok just kept throwing things her way that made it seem imperative it happen quickly.

Which of course meant that once she had assumed a reluctant mantle of ownership over her properties and responsibilities, Nagnok had happily started in about the one thing all goblins loved beyond life: gold.

If she had been happy with her small growing pile of gold, she was startled and overwhelmed (and a little horrified) by the amount of gold she had just inherited. There weren't even words to describe what had happened to her when she found out that, all Houses combined, she had a net worth of a little over 78 billion galleons. She didn't even know what that looked like for Merlin’s sake!

The Blacks, not much to her surprise, were both filthy rich and unbelievably paranoid. Most of the gold was invested in properties around the world (a house in Hawaii she was dying to go to once Voldemort stopped trying to kill her) and in family heirlooms. She was still left with a sizable spending fortune of nearly three billion galleons.

The Gryffindor vaults had amassed so much interest that even in their stale state they had still 'earned' money. What had started out as a reasonably large sum of money when the bank had been built had turned into a ridiculous amount that she was scared to even touch.

Then there where all the Houses that had left their estates and vaults to her. Three pages of Houses now dead and buried that she was responsible for. Had these people even thought of that? Had they even considered the responsibilities she would face when they left her all of their worldly belongings? Because she was sure they hadn't had a clue and she was coming very close to being resentful towards people long since dead.

She was stuck with them now, however, and the goblins would make sure that she would bring them back to life. She was accountable for them now and the goblins would take nothing less than her complete and total dedication to making them more money.

She felt had.

Stupid fucking Potter luck.

She frowned for a moment, the thought catching her interest.

“Hang on, why don't I have the Potter ring?” She asked as Nagnok finally started to put away the horrendous amount of files on his desk.

Nagnok raised his eyebrows and she was sure she wasn't going to like the answer.

“That would be because you are not a Potter.”

Yep, there it was, the answer she didn't like.

“What do you mean I'm not a Potter?” Grace asked slowly.

“Did you not pay attention to the inheritance test, child?” He asked equally slowly.

She really didn't like him anymore. Instead of answering him, she went back to look over the parchment and felt her world turn just a little slower.

“Snape? Snape is my father.” She asked in a shocked tone that was still not shocked enough for what she was reading.

“So it would seem.” He answered with a barely repressed sigh of annoyance. He really didn't like wizards. The feeling was mutual.

“Snape? My father? Snape?” She asked again, not able to understand the words at all. They were written down on the paper, all nice and neat, but they didn’t make a lick of sense. Not one. No senses here.

“This seems to be a shock.” Nagnok said in a deadpanned tone. She ignored him in favour of not losing her sanity.

“Snape. Severus Snape? The potions professor at Hogwarts?” Why did she keep asking him that? It wasn’t like the answer was going to change. Was it? Oh gods above, _please_ let the answer change!

“If that is his name.”

“Are there other Snape's?” Grace asked hopefully, looking up at Nagnok with pleading eyes.

“No doubt. “ He replied, inclining his head.

She was going to wring his tiny neck. “Are there other Severus Snape's?” She asked, being more specific.

“Unlikely.”

“So he's my father.”

“If the parchment says so, then yes.”

“My father?”

“Yes.” He barred his teeth at her in annoyance.

“Snape?”

“I would really like you to stop repeating yourself now. It makes me want to kill you.” Nagnok gritted out, a sounds of grinding stones filling the space between them.

“It makes me want to let you.” She said honestly. “This is fucking ridiculous! Why does the whole Wizarding world think that James Potter is my father if he's not? Why the hell am I named Grace Potter if that's not even who I am?” Grace demanded, though whom she was asking was a little unclear.

This had to be some sort of nightmare! Wait! Was this what Malfoy had wanted? Did he want her connected to a dark family so that Voldemort could lure her in? Was that what this was about? What the bloody hell was going on?

If she wasn't a Potter like she had believed for the last fourteen years of her life (give or take a few on account of her being a baby and not remembering them) wouldn't someone in her life have pointed it out to her? Why hadn't Sirius told her? Why hadn't Remus? Or Dumbledore! Shouldn't someone have known? _Someone_ had to know.

What kind of betrayal was she looking at here? Had they all been allowing her to stumble around in the darkness thinking, hoping, that she would either never figure it out or figure it out and not blame them?

And Snape! Good lord, _Snape_! Her _father_! What the fucking fuck was she supposed to do about that? A parent that was alive! Did he know about her? Had he not wanted her? Was that why he hated her so bloody much? Was this a reaction to loosing her mother and then not being able to raise his own child that looked like her?

Only, that wasn't true, was it? Because she didn't look like her mother, she looked like...oh gods above, she looked like Snape. A perfect blend of her mother and her father. Thank every god in existence that she got all of her mother's best features because _his nose_!

That left her with quite a few problems though. If someone knew and hadn't told her anything about her true parentage then it was deliberately kept from her. Unless the person in question explicitly told her why, she wouldn't ever find out the reason. Of course, if they were using it for nefarious purposes she'd never know either so really; it was a moot point, especially since she now knew the truth.

The most important problem was Snape. Did he really know? What if he didn't? What if he did? Would she tell him? Honestly, their interactions over the years had been less than good, hell, anything more than a complete train wreck was still being too generous.

Was she even supposed to do anything with this? If she took a few short seconds to think about this, Malfoy had only stated that she needed an inheritance test not that he knew what was in it.

Which wasn't very clever thinking since it underestimated the knowledge he may have and any blackmail material that followed. Of course if it came down to blackmail she would just out herself, Snape be damned.

So then, did she really have to tell anyone? There was no one in this world that knew that James Potter wasn't her father. For some inexplicable reason she was able to access the Potter trust vault and her last name was still Potter on her inheritance test so if she was tested, nothing would come of it and her secret would still be safe.

Right. So she kept the information to herself for the time being while she processed the fact that not only was her _whole life a lie_, but that she was now a billionaire, a Lord, and a property owner. She fucking _hated_ the Wizarding world.

“Any other news you want to throw at me before I die of shock?” She asked even as her thoughts continued to swirl around.

He rolled his eyes and put a letter down in front of her. She looked at it and then looked back at him.

“That's bad news.” She told him, pointing at it while staring at it as if it was the newest edition of the monster book Hagrid had assigned them in third year.

Nagnok grit his teeth. “That is not my problem. I was tasked with that letter and instructions on when to present it to you. My obligation to you and it is now complete and therefore I do not care.”

“But I care! I don't want any more surprises today!” Grace told him, desperation leaking through her tone.

“I. Do. Not. Care.” He said slowly, as if to a child, which she was sure she was compared to the life spans of goblins in general. It would also explain why he kept calling her a child (among all the other colourful swears).

“I don't like you.” She retorted petulantly.

“Finally something we agree on.” He nodded back.

She bared her teeth at him and picked up the letter. It had her name on the front written in a messy scrawl that she knew was her father's. Or rather James', since it turned out that the man who hated her only slightly less than Voldemort was her real father. Damn her fucking luck!

"So...is this real?" Grace asked the goblin in front of her; staring at the letter he just gave her.

Nagnok just stared at her, apparently completely fed up with answering her. Though she did like to think she was a special case, what with how irritating she could be when she tried.

"Right. So I should just open it and read it then." She said after a long silence in which Nagnok refused to answer her question.

Her hands trembled as she traced her name written on the envelope. She had had far too many revelations today to be sure what was making her world tilt the way it was. If James Potter had written her a letter, did that mean he knew he wasn't her father? Or did he think he was her father and was leaving her something from him to remember him by? If James knew he wasn't her father, why on earth would he be writing her a letter? Maybe to explain why she was officially still a Potter despite not having any relation to them whatsoever?

Well, one thing was certain, she wasn't going to figure it out just by staring at the damn thing. Grace took a deep breath, turned the envelope around and ripped it open.

_My Gracie,_

_You have only been with me for eleven months and already I know I am going to keep you forever. There is so much going on in our world as I write this, that I hope to have the opportunity to explain these things when you grow older. If not, I have instructed Nagnok to deliver this letter in your hands the summer of your eleventh birthday. _

_There is a lot to tell you my Gracie. The first, and hardest thing, is for me to tell you that I am not your father. Severus Snape is. I know this comes as a shock, but please listen. Your mother was many things to me; the love of my life was not one of them. I am ashamed to say it now, but she was a game, a challenge. The one girl who said 'no' consistently and made public her disinterest and disgust. I made a very sizable bet with Sirius that I could bed her by the end of our seventh year, and I did._

_Unfortunately, she found out not too long after (no doubt my disinterest in her after the fact hinted to her of my ulterior motives) and made amends to her best friend, Snape. Their relationship changed and they became involved. Lily found out she was pregnant not too long after we parted ways. She assumed it was mine and since we could not check until you were born, I forced her into marriage. Partly to spite Snape, partly to keep you close if you were indeed mine. No Potter heir will ever be born a bastard. _

_After you were born it became clear to me that you had no Potter blood in you and that your mother had thrown away our marriage vows to be with her love. She left me, left you, to be with him. She found out today, after a healer's appointment, your true parentage. I assume she will be telling Snape soon._

_However, my dearest Grace, I am not a nice man. If she comes back, I will obliviate her. You belong to me, you see. I knew it the moment you were born and your magic wrapped around mine and I finally felt like I had found home. You were always meant to be mine. You are mine and I refuse to give you up. I would die before I let them take you from me._

_I do not know what will happen in the future, but I must tell you some truths that are vital to your survival._

_One: the prophecy is not real. Lord Voldemort will not attack us and if he has, Dumbledore has had a hand in it._

_Two: Dumbledore is dangerous. He wants control of the Wizarding world and he will go to extreme lengths to get it. Including using you. If you are under his thumb as you read this, please my Gracie, go to the Dark Lord and ask for protection._

_Three: I have asked the goblins to create a trust vault for you, to further the idea that you are my daughter. This is for your protection. Do not tell anyone other than the Dark Lord and those he trusts who you really are. If Dumbledore finds out the lengths I have gone through to keep you, I am unsure what he would do._

_Lastly, and this is difficult to write, if the prophecy does come to fruition, I have a safeguard in place. I cannot explain what it is only that I will be seeing you very soon. I will not even let death come between us._

_Trust that I love you darling. Trust that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe and happy. Trust that I have your best interests at heart. Trust me._

_Yours,_

_James Potter_

Grace stared at the parchment unseeing. There was just so much _wrong_ with what he had written. Trust Voldemort? James, James who wasn't her father and loved her anyway, had basically stolen her because, what? He wanted her? Her magic had called to his? The only man in her life to love her unconditionally (even if only in her wildest fantasies of having a real family) and he was fucking insane! Not only to tell her to go to the man who had made five separate attempts on her life (and failed, thank Merlin), but to tell her that he would be seeing her soon? That death wouldn't stop him? She didn't know if she should sob uncontrollably or break out into hysterical laughter.

She took the easy option and looked up at Nagnok instead.

"So I'm not a Potter." She stated. He inclined his head and she tried not to sigh. Too bad he was being particularly unhelpful at the moment. "Why did it take over four years for you to give this to me?" She asked.

"This is the first time you have come into the bank unaccompanied that has allowed me the opportunity to give this to you without alerting other wizards to its existence." Nagnok stated, and damned if she didn't see his point.

If anyone had seen this letter...well, it wouldn't be good, would it? A father who wasn't a father but wanted to keep her anyway, a mean spirited potions professor who hated her very existence that actually was her father, and the potentially complete and utter betrayal of following fucking Voldemort.

Wow, her day just kept getting better and better.

"Is there anything you else you need to tell me? Like that I can access the Snape accounts or that Snape will be informed of his status as my father?" She wanted to be snide about it, but it came out more tired than she thought she was. To be fair, her life was one mess after another and right now, she was pretty close to the tipping point. Naturally, she blamed Malfoy for all of this. The git.

Nagnok grunted in amusement. "No. Per the request of Lord Potter, no one shall learn of your parentage unless you tell him or her. This includes Mr. Snape. This also means you won't be allowed near his vaults. Although currently, it is not as if you need his gold." This time it was her turn to snort in amusement. With the amount of money she currently owned she wouldn't need any gold for a long while.

"So what now?" She asked, slightly lost. She had some options, but all of them meant that Dumbledore would find out. On top of that, letting Snape know that he was her father wasn't something she was ready to divulge. At this moment, with the way she was feeling, she doubted she would ever tell the bastard.

"Now you go back to your relatives and wait until he comes for you." Nagnok rumbled, then scribbled something on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

"What's this?" She asked as she looked at another list of books. "Didn't you already give me a list of books?"

"I did. That was for how you should handle your investments and your Houses. This is for your training in the Wizengamot."

Her eyes widened in shock and she groaned loudly. "No, please no!"

Nagnok only grinned with feral intent. "They are a part of your duties now."

She nodded morosely knowing there would be no arguing with the goblin. She stood up and shook hands with Nagnok and choked through thanking him for his time (she may have been annoyed but she wasn't thick) before putting on her cloak and leaving.

More than anything, she needed time to wrap her head around everything that had happened and what it meant for her future. So she went to the bookstore and bought all fifteen (fifteen!) titles she would need to read before making her way back to the Dursley’s where she just managed to get back in the house without anyone realizing she had been gone. Now she just had to wait for the day Dumbledore decided to release her from hell.

Which reminded her of the fact that Nagnok hadn't at all explained what a magical guardian was and why Dumbledore was hers. Then again, knowing the goblins it was probably somewhere in one of the books. Fucking goblins.

Snorting to herself at the mess Malfoy had made of her life in one simple letter, she drafted her own snarky reply to him. He would either laugh (something she was hoping for and wasn’t that just a sign that she was desperate for human contact) or curse her to the high heavens (also something she was hoping for since it seemed more on track with their usual dynamic and she’d be damned if she was going to like Malfoy now).

Sighing in a manner she knew was filled with far more tiredness than she would ever own up to, she glanced over the new neighbour’s house to see if there was anything entertaining happening. With a sad pout when she spotted nothing, she flopped down on her bed and decided an early night was probably for the best.

She never once considered that the 'he' Nagnok referred to might not have been about Dumbledore at all.

\---******---

Fire burned her lungs with every breath she took. The air shimmered around her, dried and broken, waiting for something that would never come. Her magic wrapped around her like vines, searching, screaming, craving.

A flicker on the horizon. Was it close enough? Would she let it get closer?

Need grew.

Hunger tore through her soul.

Want made her dizzy.

Was she drowning? Was she alone? Hadn't another made promises to her? Wasn't there magic on the horizon calling her name?

Loss made her heavy, temptation had been buried, darkness had receded. She was alone, a knight admit the forces, panting, breathless, and tired. _So tired_. The knight that wanted less than had been given looked to the horizon and saw the darkness, the safety, the warmth.

The flicker grew.

Temptation rose from the grave.

She _yearned_.

Wasn't she alone?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, yes, I know, the money thing is cliche as all heck but I swear it's for a good cause! Stick with me!  
And if you were worried about a slow burn, that's very much not going to happen here. It'll be full throttle my dudes.
> 
> After this I'll be posting monthly, so the next chapter will be up on the 25th...of December. What can I say? I love Christmas! :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Just a touch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays everyone!
> 
> Cautious warning: casual mentions of off screen abuse
> 
> No Beta, mistakes were made

A little over two and a half weeks later, the easy heat of summer became sweltering as the days crept on. Grace was out in the garden 'helping' her aunt by actually doing the gardening she refused to do in this heat and silently fuming at the fact that her two best friends decided she _still _wasn't worth the time or parchment to even send her a single letter. After sending the fifth consecutive one (and telling Hedwig to peck the life out of them simply because) she finally got a reply. But not from her best friends, oh nooo. _Dumbledore_ had finally seen fit to tell her that they were all on a communication lock-down just in case a Death Eater intercepted her mail.

She had laughed madly at that. What would a Death Eater find interesting about her angry letters to her friends demanding to know why in Merlin's name they were ignoring her? Frankly, his letter had almost made her find good old Voldemort himself and ask for that elusive 'protection' her not-father had told her about.

It was just her luck that her mad laughter caused her dear uncle to come raging into her room and give her a sound thrashing for her 'unnatural freakishness in the early morning'. The fact that he lingered after the beating and stroked her hair made her more terrified than she had ever been in her life. He hadn't done anything since that day, unless kicking her in the ribs because the wet floor dried too slowly counted (which was really her own fault, she should have known better than being on her hands and knees in the presence of her idiot uncle) but his eyes strayed over her thin form more and more often. Aunt Petunia didn't seem to notice, but Dudley did. Every time he saw, he frowned. First at his father and then at her. She pretended she didn't see either looks, but the ice in her veins made it clear that she couldn't come back next year. Not that she hadn't enjoyed her stay at hotel hell, but she wasn't about to find out why her uncle had gone from violent to creepy with one quick beating.

She wasn't that far gone yet, thank you very much.

Her time during the days may have been controlled by the Dursley's ('she can't leave the house, what would the neighbours say?') but the nights where hers. Well, they used to be hers, now they were filled with headache inducing books about protocols and Wizarding laws and how to manage Houses and portfolios. Her head had never felt heavier and she really rued the day she decided to listen to Malfoy. The git.

Not that the subject matter wasn't interesting, it really was, it was simply that all of this information was supposed to have been given to her over a span of years, not in one summer. Since she was now officially the Head of several Houses, she was forced to take up the mantel and act accordingly. Because of that she had to play the part since any misstep on her part could cost her money, her reputation, or her standing in the Wizarding community.

So yes, it was hard work (it was horrible work) but it was a distraction from Dursley hell so she would take it. That, and it had to be easier than whatever mess her life would eventually throw at her. Right? Right.

The first thing she did when she had gotten back, and after she had gotten enough sleep to mildly get over any linger shock, was to go over the files for all of her brand spanking new properties. They weren't new in the sense that they had been in the various families for (in some cases) well over a hundred years, but they were new to her.

Grace decided that the first list of properties she would handle was for the Black family since they had the longest list. There was the Official Black Manor situated...somewhere. There were so many spells and wards, and dare she say it, dubiously legal things on the damn thing that unless you were given a portkey you were never going to find it. Paranoid bunch, the Blacks. Probably had something to do with the whole 'insane' vibe they had going on. Nevertheless, the Official Black Manor home base was still up and running and apparently in good working order because house-elves were wonderful.

Next was the town house in London (she wasn't even going to touch that one just yet), then the vacation home in Hawaii, a house in Ireland, two in Wales, three in France, one in Belgium, and finally one in Aruba.

She had no idea why they had decided on these specific countries but her job was currently to go over each property and determine whether it was more cost effective to keep the damn houses or to sell them. Thankfully every house had a file of its own which gave her a succinct list of the state of each property, among the various and long list of other details.

The Official Black Manor had to be kept, not because she wanted to but because she quite literally had to. It was part of her House Law. The Black Manor had to stay in the Black family or else the person who sold it would die a horrible and painful death and every subsequent child would be cursed until the Manor was back in Black hands. Since Grace very much liked being alive and was more than intrigued by a Manor that seemed not to exist unless you were blood related, she didn't mind keeping it.

She also didn't mind because it was in perfect condition and if her coming year turned out anything like the previous ones, she was going to need to find a place that she could run away to, and having someplace to go that was already furnished and well stocked was just good planning. Although...is it really running away if you own the property?

The house in Belgium was on the verge of collapse and financially speaking it was better to sell it off. According to the file it had barely been used when the Blacks had been numerous because the Head of House at the time had become insulted when he wasn't given free chocolates after some sort of visit.

Yes, that was in the file. She couldn't determine if that was because the Blacks had written that down somewhere or because the goblins kept scarily accurate files on everything. Someone must have thought it was important enough to put in the files or else it wouldn't be there. Right?

In either case, she was selling the dump. She wasn't ever going to visit the place and since it seemed more cost effective to sell than keep, she was going to go ahead and sell it.

The town house in London she had to keep because of Order of the Phoenix reasons. Which, duh. Also, she wasn't quite ready to let anyone else in on the very big secret that was ruining her life. Had she mentioned that she wasn't ok with the fact that her father was Snape? Because she really wasn't ok with that. So, town house stayed in the family. She would revisit it after the whole Voldemort thing was over since she didn't see herself keeping a place that had made Sirius even more miserable than he already was.

The vacation house in Hawaii was a keeper since it was in good condition and the more she thought about it the more she wanted to go. Also, vacation house! She had only ever dreamed of going on vacation and now not only did she have a place to stay (essentially for free) but also a place that seemingly no one remembered existed. Voldemort who? Ha! He could try and find her on the other side of the world! Of course she couldn't actually run away and enjoy a well-earned vacation, but the thought was heartening.

Which made her think of the other vacation house in Aruba. This was where her _I've-never-had-anything-so-I-don't-need-that-much _mentality kicked in. She already had one vacation spot so she really didn't need another one, great place or not. The house itself was in good condition and had been kept up-to-date by the house-elves so selling it wouldn't even be a problem. What she was having a bit of difficulty with was the thought of _actually_ selling it. It had, according to the files, been in the family for close to seventy years. Who was she to just sell it?

On the other hand, according to the rest of files that Nagnok had given her, the Blacks liked to acquire and sell houses like it was a hobby. The decision maker had been the simple fact that she didn't actually need it. So on the 'sell' pile it went.

The cottage in Ireland was in a state of disrepair because someone in the Black family had taken offense to the house. Yes, that was actually something that happened. They had taken offense to the house. _The house_. If Grace ever had reservations on the combined mental state of the Blacks, this had certainly cleared it right up.

She had a choice with this house. It wasn't so far gone that it couldn't be fixed (and improved to her personal tastes and needs) but it was also bad enough that it would be a heck of an investment. Yes, she technically had to money to fix it up but for someone who never had anything she wasn't quite as keen to spend it. On the other hand, it was just a cottage and the costs of fixing it up would be far less than having to fix up, say, the manor in Belgium. She put the file in the 'maybe' pile and decided she'd come back to it later.

The two properties in Wales had an infestation of pixies and boggarts so they had automatically gone on the 'sell' list. The properties themselves were in adequate conditions, but Grace wasn't even going to go through the headache of having to deal with either creature no matter how attractive the properties were. Besides that, she already had more than one house which she already felt was far too much. Who really needed more than one house? So she'd hire someone to deal with the infestations and then put both places on the market.

The three houses in France were a bit of a challenge. One of them was a Chateau because the Blacks were fancy like that, and the last property was a small castle. She lied. It wasn't a challenge, it was an easy decision. The castle was going to be sold. Who needed a castle?! It had seventeen rooms, thirteen bathrooms, twenty-one 'other' rooms (reading room, play room, library, the list went on and on), a stable (sans horses thankfully), two cottages on the property, several acres of land, and a fountain out back. Why the file had specially included mentioning the existence of a fountain was a bit of mystery to her but it had cinched the need to sell. There was no way she was keeping that. The fountain probably needed its own postal code.

Which left the Chateau. While it was relatively smaller (in relation to a castle everything was smaller) she wasn't sure if she should keep it or get rid of it. It was situated on the coast and in excellent condition, according to the files. This had apparently been another property the Blacks had taken a liking to because the house-elves had been maintaining it for all of theses years, not to mention (if she remembered Petunia's ramblings correctly) that it was a very 'in' place to vacation. Since Grace couldn't care less about any of that, she had made to put in on the 'sell' pile since she was already keeping three properties and that was a little terrifying to her.

Until she thought about dear aunt Petunia's face once she learned that Grace owned a house there (and she would learn about it if it was the last thing Grace ever did) so the file made a quick about turn and happily settled on the 'keep' pile. Aunt Petunia could eat it.

The last property was a modest town house in the heart of Paris. This one she had also decided to sell since three houses in France seemed like a bit much. If she had any inclination to keep any of the properties, it would be the one on the coast because it had been very obviously loved. Which is of course why she was going to keep it. You know, besides the fact that it would drive a pretty stake through aunt Petunia's shrivelled heart. The last property (the town house) while well maintained, seemed to be more of a stopping point for family members wishing to travel around. There hadn't been a lot of updates and the house-elves mainly kept the place clean and in shape and the house didn't seem to hold any kind of sentimentality.

Not that she would ever accuse the Blacks of being sentimental, mind you.

So of all the Black properties, she was going to keep four of them, one was on the maybe pile, and the remaining six were going to be sold. She still had time to decide what to do about the cottage in Ireland so she was going to take the time she had to decide what to do about it. If she was going to be thinking about this whole thing in quite a selfish way, the thought of having to manage and maintain all of the properties was more than she was able to take at the moment.

As it stood, it had taken her no less than three whole days just to sift through all of the information on each property to come to the conclusions she had. No way was she going to put in any more effort on places she had no ties to whatsoever.

That still left the Gryffindor properties, which thankfully only amounted to a grand total of two. Grace figured that that was because it had been centuries since anyone had been able to not only claim the Lordship but also since anyone had checked up on the properties connected to the Gryffindor House. She couldn't find it stated anywhere yet, but she figured it would be somewhere in the main file concerning the going-ons of the Gryffindor House. Which meant that either the properties had been sold over time by the last few Lords or that they had fallen into such states of disrepair that the goblins had stepped in and sold them before it lost any and all value.

Of the two properties, the main property itself wasn't one she was ever allowed to sell because it was the seat of the House and thus had to stay in the family while the second property was another castle. Without even looking at the stupid property, Grace decided to sell. Of course it had helped that once she looked at the property file it became clear that the castle was in ruins and was being used by muggles as an historical site.

Which was nice for them but it left her wondering what she could do. Was she even allowed to sell it? Was she earning any money off all those people who (technically) trespassed on her lands? She didn't have a clue so she was forced to put in on the 'maybe' pile so she could come back to it later. She also made a note on a separate piece of paper that she would have to discuss this with one of the goblins since she was sure they had a better idea and understanding of what she was allowed to do.

The Gryffindor main property was under as many spells and wards as the Black Manor and nowhere in the file had it been stated what kind of a house it was. Since she wasn't actually allowed to sell it, Grace couldn't be bothered to figure it out. This also happened to be the only property that had been kept in great condition thanks to the house-elves. Which made her worried about how all of these poor house-elves were surviving but she knew she had a folder on them somewhere in her large stack, so she figured she'd get to that eventually. It really wasn't like she had anything better to do at the moment.

After having dealt with both Black and Gryffindor properties, Grace turned her attention to the Houses she had inherited because she didn't die. Or because they did. After doing a quick count of the Houses she now represented (and re-counted another five times after that) she was now the happy owner of another thirty-two minor Houses. Thirty-two! She was going to kill some of those dead people because there were bloody reasons, very _sane _reasons, you didn't just give your whole House away to a _stranger_. Fucking wizards!

Needless to say, she was bloody well stuck with them for the moment. It had taken her another three days to even delve back into the damn files because every time she looked at the files she wanted to burst out in tears or set them on fire. Sometimes both when she was feeling particularly down. They were fireproof. She may have tired to burn a few. For science.

Of the thirty-two Houses, thirty-one of them had properties she would be expected to maintain. The last House had thankfully (in her opinion since she wouldn't have to worry about the damn thing) been burned to the ground just shortly after the war had ended. As all of the minor Houses didn't actually have the means to have more than one main house, each of them only had one blissfully short file on each property. All the properties were mostly in a reasonable state seeing as they hadn't been cared for in well over fifteen years.

Having been 'gifted' these properties it was now her job to make sure that all of them were well maintained, so she had to comb through each property file and list the things that would need looking at or fixing. She didn't have a clue how to manage any of the things that were wrong, she only knew that it was her brand spanking new job to make sure that it got done.

She was going to resurrect those bastards just to kill them again, she swore it!

Thankfully, it turned out that in most cases it was purely a sense of overgrown gardens and some outside cosmetic work that needed to be done. There were a few houses that needed the roofing fixed and the plumbing looked at, but overall they generally seemed to be in an ok condition.

Which led her to the files concerning the house-elves. The Blacks currently had the most house-elves while Gryffindor only had a handful and the remaining thirty-two minor Houses blissfully had none, except for four of the Houses that had a single house-elf each. For simplicity's sake she decided to tackle the four separate house-elves first just in case she did something stupid like summon all thirty-six house-elves tied to the Black House. The Dursley's were sure to love that little surprise and as much as she had enjoyed the Dobby incident, she'd rather avoid a re-run if she could.

Of the four files (Williams, Baker, Foster, and Coleman) Grace decided to start alphabetically with Baker. According to the file, the Baker house-elf had been bought when the House had made enough money to support a house-elf's needs. It probably didn't hurt that their standing became slightly elevated because of this, but Grace thought that didn't matter much now seeing as they were dead.

The house-elf in question, Dile, had been bound by House magic and since the House had remained relatively 'alive' waiting for her, the house-elf (hopefully) had no adverse effects to not having a family to serve. The file stated that the goblins had kept a close eye on the house-elf, as they were aware that Grace had been a baby at the time and wouldn't be able to provide anything until she grew up. Quickly scanning the other three files on the Coleman, Foster, and Williams house-elves, each file provided much the same story as that of the Baker one. To make her life that much easier, something she was a big fan of, she decided to do the simple thing and call on all of them.

Four distinct pops were heard before four house-elves faced her with a look of happiness. She tried not to wince at them and asked their names instead. Since she called on all four of them, she had no idea which house-elf was which. The four elves, Dile, Tigh, Fer, and Tuddy, looked at her expectantly after their introductions.

Hearing four squeaky voices chime their names out right on top of each other was a little disorienting, but somehow Grace managed to link each face to its respective owner. She nodded her head in thanks, thinking on what exactly she wanted to do now. She was essentially the Head of all of their Houses and as such they kind of all belonged to each other. Technically not so much, but she could play around with the lines until she had a clearer idea of what she wanted to do, and she mostly really didn't want them being alone anymore. It also helped that all of their Houses were minor Houses and didn’t have the same strong family magics binding them as the titled Houses did.

Then an idea popped up into her head. What if she asked these four house-elves to take a look at the thirty-one properties? Not only would that take care of the day-to-day necessities, but then she would also get a clearer idea of what needed to be done to each house. Yes, technically the files on all of the properties stated that in explicit detail, but a house-elf would have a better idea of what was the more pressing need.

With that in mind she relayed her idea to her four new house-elves who all almost burst into tears at having such a big job. She was thankful to Dobby in that moment because otherwise she wouldn't have known how to calm them down as quickly as she had. It took a bit a time (and a lot of sobbing of how absolutely perfect she was) for them to agree to her plan. Thank Merlin no one had been home.

Naturally, since they were house-elves, they were determined to show her how helpful they could be and assured her they could take care of any problems just fine. While she would love to argue with them (Hermione's rants ringing a little too clearly in her ears) she decided just to go with it. Not only would it keep them busy, something they clearly wanted, but it also solved one of her more pressing problems.

That left her with the Gryffindor and Black house-elves. Seeing as there were a lot more of them as they served major Houses, she knew she couldn't have them do the same thing. She also couldn't order the Gryffindor house-elves to step foot in a Black property since they didn't belong to the same House, despite her being Lord of both of them. House Law was really aggravating in that sense.

So instead of calling the whole hoard of house-elves into her tiny room at the Dursley's, she got clever and only called for the head house-elf for both Houses. Which is how she got personally acquainted with Cann and Rall, both of who took one look at her and started fussing something fierce.

Apparently she wasn't dressed properly, hadn't been fed properly, clearly wasn't getting enough sleep, and someone had to have a word with her about hygiene practices because she was clearly doing a terrible job. She had no idea what to do with that, so she just let them fuss over her before coming to her senses. After a bit of discussion, the Black house-elves agreed to clean up and fix up (as much as possible) the houses she intended to sell in order for her to get a better price. Since they were well versed in the Black buying and selling of houses, she decided it was best to leave them to it.

The Gryffindor house-elves had agreed to keep doing what they were doing. She didn't really have anything for them to do. The House seat was well taken care of and the ruins were...well, ruins.

Not to mention how many muggles probably came by there on a daily basis and what a political nightmare it would be if the house-elves were caught 'fixing up' the place. Instead she agreed to let Rall fuss over her some more while she figured out what to do.

That didn't mean she had forgotten about Kreacher though. It wasn't as if she could simply call on the house-elf and it was even less likely that the little git would listen to her. Kreacher was Walburga's personal house-elf and as she had died in the town house in London, he had felt bound to the property itself. It probably helped that the stupid portrait was around to order him about, thus tying him even more to the house. She wondered if that had affected his knowledge of the bond transference once Sirius had...had...once he was gone.

That, she supposed, was a problem for another day. One that hopefully didn't end with the entire world finding out her newest, deepest, darkest secret.

Having settled all of her property and house-elf issues, she now had to go through the investments for all of her Houses. Knowing that both the Black and Gryffindor investments would have lists that had lists, she decided to start with the thirty-two other Houses, and boy, was she thankful she did.

Of the thirty-two, the only ones that had any investments at all where the four that had house-elves. Seeing as those four had all invested into still running businesses and that the goblins had maintained those investments perfectly, she really didn't have anything to do other than make sure everything was on the up and up. Which it was. Thankfully.

Turning her growing headache towards the Gryffindor investment folder, she was pleased to find that she could put at least one worry out of her mind. The second property (the ruins) turned out to be a business venture, earning her several hundreds of thousands every year. Apparently she did have the option of selling the whole place, but she would have to sell it to the goblins who would then...well, who knew what they would do to it. Probably keep it to make money, like she should do if she was smart. Which she was, so she was going to keep the property if only so she could earn money.

That settled, happily, Grace looked over the rest of the files and found that the last Gryffindor Lord (no name or date) wasn't quite as good with his investment management as the goblins were forcing her to be. He hadn't had 'the touch' and made some seriously bad investments, mostly into companies and inventions that had fallen flat before they even launched. As a cause, the files she did have on investments were all outdated and useless.

When Nagnok had told Grace that some of the Houses had grown stale, this was probably what he had meant. Heaving a great big sigh, she cancelled any investments that were still open (despite the businesses being long dead and gone) and promptly sent Hedwig out with a letter Nagnok on her decision concerning the four minor Houses and the Gryffindor investments.

Which left her with the Black investments. Sure, she could have waited to send Hedwig until she was done with all of the investments, but she already knew that the Black folder was far too big to complete in one mere evening. As it stood now, this whole mess had already taken her a week to sludge through on her own and who knew how long the rest of it would take? She did the only thing she could: she took a deep breath and opened the damn thing.

On the one hand, she was going to be grateful for the goblins for the rest of her life, but on the other hand those same goblins had tricked her into this and she wanted them dead. Which of course meant that they had kept up with all of the investments the previous Black Lords had made. Someone down the line had given the goblins license to drop investments that were either failing or changed hands, so most of the paperwork she had to go through was old files that needed a Lord's signature. Really it was all just for show since the papers she signed for various businesses had long since changed or closed.

The open investments were being closely monitored and handled by one of the goblins in charge of the Black accounts and Grace felt that it would be one of the stupidest things she could ever do to interfere with his (or her) work. So she wasn't going to. All she really needed to do (until someone called her out on it) was let the goblins do what they do best: earn money. She had no wish nor energy to deal with anything even remotely related to any of this stuff. Besides, investing was close enough to doing maths that she felt a shiver of horror run down her spine at the thought of having to deal with any of it. It was in her best interests to leave it to the professionals.

Not that that meant she was done going over the many, many, many files and folders concerning her Houses. Oh no, that would have been far too easy. No, now she had to go over the voting history and leanings of each House. She could have theoretically pulled them all into one direction and be done with it as they were now under her House 'umbrella', but she, essentially, had two very distinct leanings since she was dealing with two very different Houses.

Black recognized itself as having a dark leaning while Gryffindor had identified with a light leaning and she really wished that was the sweet simple end of it but it really wasn't. While each voting and titled House was recognized as either light or dark, there were variations of 'dark' and 'light' within those factions. For instance, House number twelve (Russell) was dark but veered more towards a light grey than actual dark. House number twenty-two (Hughes) was light but had decided it was the lightest of light and abhorred any voting decision that even had a hint of dark. To make matters worse, some of the minor Houses had decided it was 'in fashion' to make sure that their Houses continue to vote in their desired image and had written it down as House Law.

That's right, she wasn't even allowed to change their alliance because some dead fucker thought his will should rule all. Which left her with one giant headache. Grace had to essentially go over every one of the thirty-two Houses one by one to determine where they fell because each House was bound by their own leanings and thus couldn't be brought together under one big umbrella.

The need to kill someone had grown so substantially that she wondered if she couldn't just find Voldemort herself and kill the fucker out of sheer frustration. She was sure a little bit of murder would help her calm right back down. Sadly, she didn't even have time for a bit of murder because voting had segued her nicely into, that's right, House protocol. Which she was expected to know. For every. Single. House.

She didn't even know if she should be thankful for this, but the minor Houses generally didn't care much for having any sort of governing protocol. That (apparently) came later when a minor House gained itself a title. The only thing she had to worry about in relation to the minor Houses were which way each House had to vote. The rest of it she could just wing.

She couldn't, however, do that with either Black or Gryffindor Houses. Each of them had a long list of laws and regulations that they had to follow. Now, to be clear, these laws weren't the same as say, government laws. These were more guidelines that one had to follow to be considered part of the family. That said, there were a lot of overlapping rules between the Houses that made it easier, but they also had specific rules, such as Courting rules, that set them apart.

The first set of protocols were set around social and business interactions. Basic ones like: having good manners; being on time; respecting someone’s personal space; wearing the proper robes; greeting a new person properly (aka looking at them, smiling at them, giving them the proper respect according to their station when greeting them); remembering an individuals name; having good oral, hand, and body hygiene; avoiding gossip or speaking ill of others; not interrupting people when they speak; not forgetting to say please and thank you; never pay a visit without fire calling them first; always having clean shoes; when entering a room you must always be the first person to greet people unless it is a formal occasion in which case you must always greet the host first and let them introduce you; respect the privacy of correspondence; avoid laughing and/or speaking too loudly, as well as staring at people as it could be taken as an insult.

It all basically came down to three general rules: consideration, respect, and honesty. So far, it all seemed to make sense to Grace as they were things that seemed like common sense. On the other hand, she also knew that gossiping was something that people did regardless and that it also made you feel included in a group, which probably counteracted the whole 'don't gossip' rule. She also strongly suspected that it was more of a guideline in the old fashioned 'don't get caught doing this thing' sense.

That became more apparent with one of the more basic rules that stated it wasn't your job to correct someone else's etiquette since that was a House issue. The most you could do was subtly bring it up with the Head of House, and sometimes even that was too much.

Which transitioned the list into a 'definitely don't do this' list like never mentioning in polite society: age, wealth, family quarrels, religion, medical problems, love affairs, given/received gifts, honour, or any kind of disgrace. It was unseemly and made you seem uncouth. Because of course it did.

Now, those basic protocols were generally for both sexes. The next part put Grace a little on edge because there were a list of things for women that would make them seem more ladylike in polite society. For instance, when walking along with someone and your companion greets a person you don’t know, you should also greet them. Which, really? Wasn't the first rule never to talk to strangers? She should really bring that rule back, she liked that rule.

Unfortunately that wasn't on the list, but avoiding frivolous fire calls was, along with ignoring when someone calls to you rudely, using perfume in moderation (if you can still smell your perfume in the evening it was clearly too much, and if she ever thought to wear perfume, Grace might have cared), a Lady never chases fashion, merely wears nice (even if unfashionable) clothing items instead of looking awful in the newest trend, not to forget the very memorable part of how being a Lady means you can still show strength while also being mannerly. Grace wanted to throw-up. Sadly, she also fully recognized that she was probably going to have to put these things into practice since she had stupidly allowed herself to become a Lord.

The edge was smoothed out a little by knowing that men had a list of their very own that they had to conform to. Like a man never carries a woman’s handbag but he can take her coat to carry it to the cloakroom, or a man should always walk on a woman’s left-hand side. Grace's personal favourite was that a man was never to touch a woman without her permission. Which meant that it was unacceptable to hold her hand, touch her during a conversation, and push her or take her hand above the elbow (unless a man is helping her). Not to forget the golden rule: a well-bred gentleman always shows proper respect to a woman, titled or not.

It was the last two 'rules' that riled her up a little. Oh, there were many more rules between the two Houses, but the interactions between men and women were stated as rules of conduct for each sex and while most of it was just common sense and courtesy, she also realized that Cedric Diggory was a fucking prat. The biggest prat to have ever lived and she was glad he was dead. Which seemed a little callous, sure, but having read what she had in black and white and made her white with rage.

It wasn't actually something she had talked about very much beyond telling Hermione and Ginny that she had kissed Cedric after the first task. Well, he had kissed her. She had been so caught off guard and surprised that she had just...let it happen. She had told the girls later that it had been wet, but the truth was that it had been awkward. So bloody awkward. She didn't know what she was doing and he had kind of...missed her mouth. She still cringed heavily when she thought about it and cringed even more when she thought of the things she had allowed Cedric to do.

Not that she had allowed him to do very much of anything mind you, since she had been just fourteen and incredibly uncertain about what he was doing and whether or not he was trying to play her to get information from her about the next task. Bless her suspicious mind.

The truth of it was (and these protocols just emphasized the fact) that Cedric had taken advantage of her ignorance of the Wizarding world. Of how Heirs interacted with each other, of what the boundaries where between Heirs that had no Courting Contracts or were betrothed to another. She had been an Heir with a title and he had used her like she was a muggleborn witch who would have no standing in their world after Hogwarts. After the kiss he had tried several times to ‘get closer’ to her, something she very much didn’t want and something that left her wondering what the hell he was up to. She had caught on eventually (mostly because he had asked Cho to the Yule Ball) but the fact was still that he had tried. _With her_.

There were rules, guidelines, standards, all that he had broken because he saw her as a game instead of an Heir. Probably exactly what James had done to her mother, and wasn’t that a little kick to her heart?

The worst part had been that she couldn't tell anyone because she wasn't sure who she could trust and what the press would have done once they had caught wind of it. Not to mention how it could have damaged her standing as a Lady in the Wizarding circles. She would have been damaged goods.

That aside, she now had a better understand of what was expected of her and could now protect herself in a way she couldn’t with Cedric. It also turned out that Malfoy was enacting an overturn for a formal friendship between Heirs that could have led to a marriage contract in the future. Her turning it down meant that she considered him beneath her. Which, as it happened, he was. Needless to say, she was totally a bigger player than Malfoy and he could stick it! The git.

The differences between the House protocols came to play in the Courting rules and spells. Not together of course. Each House had a list of spells and potions that were essentially House secrets. Each family member was brought up knowing them and was taught never to reveal its secrets. To divulge them meant being stripped of your House and all of your titles and labelled a traitor for the rest of your life. Nice people, wizards.

The Courting rules for each House also varied per House. The Blacks, for instance, demanded a higher bride price than the Gryffindor House. The Gryffindor House demanded that every potential suitor show their worth within two months. The worth was determined by whatever the Lord at the time deemed acceptable. Then again, the Blacks also demanded that the suitor be well versed in dark magic to better protect their brides, so Grace figured it was all relative in the end. Houses were just...they were just a lot of fucking work.

When it all came down to it, Grace was in too far over her head. Yes, she had figured all of this out on her own (Hermione would be proud of her) but the fact was that this was still only the tip of the iceberg. There were books upon books of nuances for each separate House, more detailed Courting rites, you name it, it was written down somewhere. Heck, there was even a seven-step guideline for how to shake someone’s hand!

She couldn't even begin to fathom that all of what she had done over the past two and a half weeks was simply...groundwork. She had a strong basis to build up who she was as a ruling member of her world, a woman of means and power, a woman with two Houses that now had to act accordingly. It was a lot to take in and if she thought about it too much she found herself wanting to huddle into a little ball and cry her eyes out so she mostly avoided doing that.

She also didn't have a clue what to do next. There was no one to help her figure it out either because she couldn't trust anyone to keep this secret for her. James might be trustworthy, but the man was dead, despite his letter telling her otherwise. She wasn't sure she could trust Dumbledore anymore, her friends were very much out, and any teacher or parental figure she knew of wasn't close enough to her for her to trust them with something like this. Not without going to Dumbledore after talking to her in any case. And Remus. She didn't know where Remus stood, not after Sirius. She knew where she wanted him to stand, but she wasn't sure he was on the same page and that made her think twice about telling him anything. She needed to have a different conversation with him before she could tell him anything else.

None of that, however, was something she had to worry about today, or even tomorrow. She was lucky that while she did have to learn all of this eventually (and as quickly as possible), it only really came into play after she graduated Hogwarts. She may be a Lord right now but since she was still underage she was given a certain amount of leeway until, for lack of a better term, it started to count. Draco, for instance, would be playing the Heir until his twenty-seventh birthday, at the very least. Most Heirs didn't step into Lord shoes until well into their late thirty's. She was, once a-fucking-gain, the exception.

Thinking about all of this while doing yard work in the midday sun wasn't exactly one of her best ideas either. It had been hours since her last sip of water and she wasn't ready to try and be daring for her second sip despite the lack of 'family' members around her right now. Somehow, and Grace never did understand how, they always found out. Of course it could just be as simple as them being horrible enough to just accuse her of doing it even when she hadn't, which was something they did like to do.

Instead, Grace sat back on the grass and wiped the sweat from her brow as she looked at the results of her hard work and was only mildly surprised that the moment she chose to take a break, an owl decided to visit her. Not even a normal owl, a Wizarding owl. Not that she knew why a normal owl would visit her, mind you. She had been spending far too much time in the sun though, so who really knew anything.

She took a few moments blinking at it stupidly (because no one she knew would send her an owl now, thank you Dumbledore) before an indignant hoot made her scramble to take the message from the impatient owl. Grace watched as it flew away again, turning the letter over and seeing no indication of who could be sending her a letter.

The only thing she did know was that it didn't require an answer since the owl had flown away. Small mercies, she figured, since she didn't have any owl treats she could have fed the poor thing while she took the time to reply. She doubted she even had water right now.

Thankfully aunt Petunia wasn't hanging about with her beady eyes honing in on her niece since she had taken Dudley somewhere this morning or she would have been locked in her room for the next few days for having the gall to have been sent a letter. Not that that would have actually been a bad thing, considering all this heat. She would have very much liked a break from all the chores too, but she probably wouldn't have liked whatever the harpy deemed 'punishment' so it was probably best to keep the status quo.

Grace pondered the letter for a moment, wondering if it would do her any harm if she opened it.

One: she didn't have a wand.

Two: she couldn't check if there was anything that could potentially harm her (hello portkey to Voldemort).

Three: She wasn't even allowed to do magic outside of school so it wouldn't help her anyway if she could have checked.

Four: It could be Malfoy again and gods above and below if he wrote her again about something that could potentially change her whole life she would actually kill the little bastard.

With no hints or answers coming from the letter she simply shrugged and opened it, consequences be damned. It wasn't like her life could become any less complicated.

_I'm here. I'm coming for you._

Fuck her life.

Did she jinx herself by thinking that her life couldn't become any less complicated? She ought to be punished for this but she figured she was already cursed so she just leaned back and glared at the world around her. The one that was out to get her. Again. Because of _Reasons_. Fucking world.

Despite the fact that it was unsigned, Grace could tell that it was definitely her fath...James's handwriting. She breathed deeply and closed her eyes seriously thinking this was an illusion because of the heat, but sadly when she opened her eyes the words hadn't changed. _I'm here_. Wasn't that a laugh. She hadn't met one person she could trust with this whole entire mess and now she was getting owls from a stranger who seemed to be intent on...what? Keeping her? Claiming her? So James was here then. Or so he claimed. It could be Malfoy playing an elaborate prank on her.

A terrible one that she didn't rightly believe and one that was giving her a lot more stress than she was willing to admit.

Not only did she seriously have to consider the things James had written her, it had left her thinking Snape wasn't all that wrong in his hatred of him (shagging her mum for bet? Obliviating her?!), but she also had to consider her own plans for the future. Did she actually trust Dumbledore? Did she want to be a part of this war? Why wasn't she told earlier about her connection to Voldemort? Or the prophecy? Why where the adults in her life so fucking useless? Was it a wizard thing or an adult thing? Why did they need her?

Ok, no, she knew why they needed her, but did they actually really _need_ her? They were grown wizards! Where were the plans? Where was the protection, the action, the counter-offensive manoeuvre? Where the bloody hell was the attack plan? That's what it came down to really. How completely and utterly unprepared they were for something they had known would happen for years, and if Grace was being truthful (urg!) she was pissed they hadn't sorted themselves out yet.

James had his own section of issues. She didn't really have any clue of what to think because the man was dead. As in dead. No pulse. Three feet under. Sleeping with the fishes. Dead. She had no idea what to make of the letters either. Either it was him and she wasn't being played or it wasn't him and she was being played. If he really was here then him being 'here' meant he was coming for her but what did it really mean? Did it mean she was safe from Dumbledore only to watch her back because of Voldemort? Or did she trust her instincts and her survival skills and stay with Dumbledore because against all odds, he wasn't the one who had tried to kill her five times? She didn't have enough information to make a decision.

Frankly, she didn't have any ideas as to why she would trust someone like James (if it really was the not-dead version of him) who openly told her he enjoyed sleeping with a woman for a bet, taking away her child, and obliviating that child's mother just to keep her. And for what purpose? What magic had he sensed that he decided it was ok to fuck with her life like that? With anyone’s?

She didn't have any answers and honestly, she wasn't really looking forward to the pile of questions this would bring if it _was_ true. Why was her life so complicated? Just for once she wished she could just be a normal girl. A girl with loving parents, maybe a boyfriend, lazy summer days and happy school ones. You know, _easy_.

"Girl!" Aunt Petunia's screeching voice yelled at her from inside the house, interrupting her desperate hope for a simpler life.

She jumped violently and cursed her injuries, quickly tucking the note into her bra and wiping more sweat away with her long sleeve. She hated the worn out clothing she had to wear, especially during the summer months, but sometimes they came in handy. It was easier to hide the bruises if nobody could see them to begin with, right? That was the Dursley way of life and it wasn't like the Order checked in on her either.

Yes, she had the guard that was stationed outside of her house practically at all times, but at no point would they enter the house. As long as she was in the wards and as long as Voldemort didn't enter Surrey, it was deemed that she was fine. Fine. Absolutely fine.

So fine that today she had trouble breathing because Dudley 'accidentally' pushed her down the stairs yesterday because she had forgotten to pick up one of his socks hidden under the bed that happened to be his favourite and he had wanted to wear them today because he could have had a date if they had been washed. Nevermind the fact that the hamper was just a few steps away and the only thing she was allowed to touch in his room. Also, teenage boy. Why the _fuck_ would she go looking for anything in his smelly room? She had standards.

Some days, she thought wistfully as she made her way into the house, she really wished she was the type of person that could kill. Voldemort made it look rather easy. Maybe she could open their connection and send him her location on a day she had to go grocery shopping? That way she would be out of the house and he could kill to his hearts content. Win-win really. Well, win-win for her. Not only would she be rid of her relatives, but she'd also manage to get 'away' from Voldemort again.

It tickled her endlessly that she was his greatest annoyance. Her, a fifteen year old girl who just kept bouncing out of their little scrapes. Her smile turned sad and bitter when she remembered that not everyone came out alive. Sirius, her Sirius, was gone now. Her heart clenched painfully at the sudden reminder and the loss that was still far too fresh in her heart.

She was saved from her darkening thoughts by Aunt Petunia screeching at her again.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia?" She called back, walking slowly through the back door so she wouldn’t track anything into the house. She was surprised by the sudden appearance of her Aunt, stepping in front of her and scaring her senseless.

"Useless girl!" Aunt Petunia berated her. She valiantly kept herself from rolling her eyes. Her ribs hurt too much to add on any other injuries if she showed too much defiance. "Make me come and get you when you have two perfectly good legs. Here, fifty pounds and the grocery list. I want a receipt and don't you dare buy anything for yourself!" Her Aunt hissed at her, shoving a fifty-pound note into her hands along with the grocery list.

While she wasn't even aware of Petunia or Dudley coming home, she was thankful that she'd get even more time away from them.

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Grace said without much inflection in her voice.

She couldn't even bring up the feeling of being bothered by the implication that she would steal from them since it was just all old hat to her. It would also give Petunia more joy in berating her if she knew she was getting to Grace, but since Grace had grown up with it she didn't even consider it worth the effort. It honestly just didn’t even register.

Walking to the front door, she was caught off guard by Dudley, who had obviously been waiting for her in the living room, as he slammed into her side and smashed her into the door of her old room. She couldn't even scream because the air had left her lungs in a gasp as her ribs groaned in protest. Once the weight of a large hippopotamus left her, she crumbled to the floor, arms dropping forward to catch her body as she frantically gulped in air and tried to calm the throbbing pain by not moving.

She vaguely heard Dudley tell her something about deserving it before he laughed his way up the stairs. She had only been on the floor for a minute before Petunia came wandering out the kitchen to see what all the noise was about. Finding her niece on the floor, gasping for air, was apparently enough for her to yank Grace's hair and almost throw her out of the house, harshly muttering about what a saint she was for taking in such a useless creature.

Grace tried not to burst into her 'crazy laugh' as she stumbled up the walkway, trying to ascertain if her useless guard had either seen any of that (unlikely) or if they would grow concerned at her condition (also unlikely). Just another normal day in her life. She wondered how many people ignored all the signs, all the blatantly in-your-face signs, but then realized she didn’t want people to know and tried her best not to let anything show as she straightened herself out. She slowly made her way up the street and turned the corner before finally collapsing against the wall as she tried her best to slow her racing heart.

After five minutes of relative peace (getting glared at like she was the last speck of stubborn grease on an otherwise pristine kitchen counter didn't count), she slowly let a bit of her magic go to take stock of her injuries. She had been healing minor injuries for as long as she could remember (mostly since she couldn't actually remember doing it) and the fact that she had never gotten an owl for the use of underage magic told her that they only monitored underage magic with the use of a wand. Since she never used a wand, she was home free.

A defenceless muggle she might have been once upon a time, but she wasn't a muggle and she was determined to never be defenceless again. Well, as defenceless as she could be when she had people watching her that weren't actually watching her and having three bullies that constantly and consistently injured her without being allowed to retaliate in kind.

The array of deep bruises that littered her skin would heal just fine on their own (they always had), but her ribs might be a problem. She knew she had bruised them the other day when Dudley had pushed her down the stairs but since they hadn't been broken, she just let them heal on their own. Sadly, her magic was familiar enough with the feel of broken bones that she could easily pick out that she had a hairline fracture on one of her ribs and Grace groaned at the thought of having several days without her magic. Fucking Dudley.

Not that she was technically allowed to use her magic or that it was completely out of commission, but healing took energy, power, and focus. Two of the three she always had but the third was a little hard to come by during her summer stints. That would essentially mean that she would be even more tired than she already was and would probably have to forgo her evening studies in favour of what she liked to call a healing sleep.

On the other hand, she could let it heal on its own since there wasn't much muggle medicine could do either except maybe wrapping up her ribs, but given that she was essentially in enemy territory she needed to be fighting fit. That meant letting her magic heal her ribs to an extent that she would be able to move more freely and protect herself when it became necessary. Not that it wasn't always necessary, but she was feeling more and more on edge ever since she had come back. She needed to prioritize.

She sighed deeply and decided that magically wrapping her mid-section was the easiest and smartest thing to do now. Her magic would act as a physical wrap would have while she also directed some of it to focus on the fracture and heal what it could.

Knowing she couldn't dawdle much longer she stood up and quickly imagined what she wanted and felt a tight pressure around her ribs and sighed in relief. She loved magic. Having directed her magic towards the fracture, she continued on to her next chore.

Entering the local grocery store, Grace grabbed a cart and made her way down the isles, pretending not to see the neighbourhood women gossiping about her appearance and random people she had never met giving her nasty glares. Oh, but she really hated her stupid relatives. Muttering expletives to herself she as she glared right back at a particularly nasty look, she didn't quite see the man who ambled in front of her cart quickly enough to not ram her cart into the man's legs, his 'oomph' as he stumbled making her eyes go wide in horror.

"I'm so sorry!" She said apologetically, reaching out to steady him before yanking her hand back just as she realized she would be touching him.

He laughed at her, wheezing a little, and she tilted her head to hear more of the surprisingly deep sound before really looking at him. She watched him stand up and it gave her time to get a better look at the man she had practically run over with her cart. He was deceptively tall with unruly black hair and hazel eyes. He was dressed in a leather jacket and jeans, making him appear casual and mildly attractive. She guessed he was around his early twenties but she could be wrong since she didn't have a great track record with things like that.

"My fault, I'm afraid. I was in a rush and didn't see you." The attractive stranger said, holding on to her cart as he straightened himself out.

She gave him a wan smile, guilt running heavily through her veins even as her magic perked up.

"Seems like we both didn't see each other." Why was her magic perking up? Oh fuck, he wasn't a wizard was he? Was he dangerous? Was this on purpose? Was she actually in danger? In a supermarket? In _Surrey_?!

"We can see each other quite well now." He told her, a charming smile gracing his face as he studied her.

Grace blinked at the smile. Holy hell, smiles like that were actually real. She frowned slightly. Was he playing her? Was this a muggle thing?

"Uh. Well. I have glasses." She said, not quite knowing what to say and promptly feeling foolish when she registered her words. Who says that? Walk away, walk away! Abort! _Abort_!

"Are they broken?" He asked with a slight frown, pointing at the clear tape holding the bridge of her glasses together.

"Not today." She muttered, though not softly enough to not be heard. Had they broken again when Dudley had taught her how gravity worked? Only enough to warrant the tape again but not enough to actually snap them. Small mercies.

The stranger gave her a quizzical frown. "Do you usually break your glasses?"

"You never know what the day might bring." Grace replied with a casual shrug, not really answering.

She took a second while he digested that to really look at him. Yes he was mildly attractive (could anyone make her forget Sirius?) but what interested her most was how her magic had gone from taking an interest to reaching out to try and touch him. She had tried several times to stop her magic from trying to reach out but it did little good. She equated it as slapping someone's hand away from freshly baked cookies, the only difference being that her magic refused to listen to the warning and continued to try and reach the cookies. Or the man. What was so special about this ok-looking stranger that her magic needed more of him?

"I thought you were in a rush?" She asked, changing the subject when it looked like he wanted to say more about her glasses. A subject that had never been open for discussion, even amongst her friends.

"Hmm." He nodded with a knowing look but letting her change the subject anyway. "I was. Then I met you."

Her eyes decided it was time to bulge out of their eyes at his blatant interest. "I'm underage!" She blurted out, a little uncomfortable with the man's focus on her, magic reaching or not.

She was still Sirius', even in death.

His eyebrows rose in slight amusement. "Who said I was even interested?"

"You-you just said..." Grace stumbled out even as embarrassment caused her to overheat and stained her cheeks in blotchy red spots.

There was a reason Hermione had to point out that boys were trying to ask her out when she was convinced at the time they were just being friendly. It was hard to differentiate between friendly and flirting and she was terrible at realizing she was flirting at all. If she ever even noticed to begin with. There had been an unusual conversation with Dean where he blurted out he was gay and she blurted out she wasn't interested. They had both turned the deepest shade of red she had ever seen (mirrors don't lie) and had avoided speaking for over a month.

"That I was in a rush and you bowled me over. Now I'm not rushing because I'm definitely late." He finished as he let go of her cart to pick up his basket, watching her with heavily amused eyes.

Her face was so hot she wondered if she could fry an egg on it. "Right. Of course. No, I usually blurt out things like that. All the time." She leaned in closer, as if sharing a secret with him. "It's a real problem for me, you see."

His lips twitched. "I don't doubt it. Have you finished?" He questioned, motioning towards her cart.

"Ramming my cart into unsuspecting shoppers? I think so. Too many more and I might be banned. I try to limit myself to one a trip." Grace replied with an earnest nod, her face still hot but her embarrassment sliding away.

Not that that had any effect whatsoever on her magic that was still somehow straining to get to the decent looking man. Stupid magic that should be focusing on her injuries instead of strangers.

"Lucky me." There was definitely a smile there now.

"To each his own." Grace shrugged, getting back behind the cart and pushing away from the scene of her crime. And embarrassment.

She was going to go crazy later thinking about this. Probably moan into her pillow about how absolutely cringe worthy she was. Not to mention the fact that she still hadn't decided if her magic was acting up because he was a potential threat. Magical or muggle didn't really matter at the moment since she was both injured and defenceless. Not to mention totally and utterly alone. Had her 'guards' even followed her here?

That said, it made her a little uneasy, his casual interest in her. Nobody, save Sirius (and maybe Remus) had ever shown any kind of interest in her. Oh, don't get her wrong, she had been interested in many of the boys back at Hogwarts, but it had always been a superficial kind of interest. More an appreciation of how some of them looked than a need to date them. She had liked Cedric just fine and found him handsome but that had been as far as her interest had gone. Even after he had kissed her she had been more interested in the what-ifs than the actual person. No one had ever 'sparked' her.

This stranger though, suddenly he appears and her magic reacts? It was unsettling and uncomfortable. Was she betraying Sirius? Was she betraying his memory, the moments they had shared together? Yes he wasn't here any longer and there wasn't a chance in death that he would ever come back, but that hadn't stopped her feeling what she still did for him. She had still fallen for Sirius and she still missed him. Flirting with a handsome stranger, even if it was innocent, made her feel...dirty. Left her feeling confused.

Her magic had never pulled at her with Sirius.

"Have you finished your list?" He asked again, falling into step next to her and gesturing to the paper she held tightly in her hand as he directed her wayward thoughts back to her long list of groceries.

Right. Groceries. She shrugged and gave him a noncommittal grunt, not quite able to tell him to leave her to her emotional breakdown but also not wanting to be rude by telling him to fuck off. He nodded as if he understood.

"By all means, lead the way." He said, sweeping his arm in front of them.

She wanted to part ways with him, wanted to focus only on her stupid list but the man stayed next to her and happily kept pace with her as she moved towards her next item.

"Did you finish yours? On account of you being in a rush and all." She clarified, not liking the silence between them.

If she had known him, she might have let the silence linger as he didn't seem to mind it, but since he was a stranger she felt she should at least make an effort. Maybe it was a good way to catch him off guard and squirrel out his intentions.

He smiled widely at her and she wondered if you could crush on a smile. It was a really good smile. In her moment of surprise she let her magic out just enough that the straining wisp gathered enough energy to lightly wrap around the strangers hand. Shocked that it could even do that, she turned frantic eyes to the stranger who only smiled at her with kind eyes, giving no reaction whatsoever to her magic latching on to him.

That was good, right? That meant that either he wasn't a wizard (hope!) or he was and he was just that good to hide his reactions to being assaulted by her magic (not good). She was going to do something extremely stupid and hope that he was muggle. She'd borrowed enough trouble for a lifetime, surely she would be fine just this once?

"Not as of yet. I only need one more thing, but I think I might just follow you around first."

Follow her around? Yeah, ok, normal people didn't do that. Did they? Was this how muggles met and dated? Did things like this happen? More to the point, was it weird and creepy that he stuck with her? In some ways she had grown up faster than her year mates but in others she was too naive to function, and this happened to be one of those moments. How was she supposed to know about these things?

"That...sounds a little, um, stalker-like." Grace said honestly, thinking it was better to just say it and see what his reaction would be.

To be fair, maybe it wasn't really stalker behaviour, but she had learned that it was sometimes far more telling to say outlandish things to people and judge them by how they reacted to it.

"Is it?" He asked, seeming a little perplexed as he turned to look at her. "I'm sorry if I seem so forward." He said seriously, peering at her in a way that made her feel a little guilty for thinking badly of him.

Grace shrugged. "You came out of nowhere and now you want to stick by me."

He chuckled and offered his hand. "I'm James, the unsuspecting victim of both your demon cart and your suspicious mind."

She frowned heavily at his declaration and scowled at both him and his hand. "Grace. I'm Grace." She replied, scowl still firmly in place as she crossed her arms and refused to shake his hand.

James simply laughed as he dropped his hand. "I'm not sure my poor ankle agrees with you."

Grace rolled her eyes and snorted, certain this was the least ladylike she had ever been. "Where's the fun in living up to your name?"

"You must have been a handful when you were little." He said with a smirk as they finally moved through the isles again, Grace watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Her magic was thrumming with happiness and it was difficult to ignore the feelings of safety and peace in the face of a stranger who was coming on a little too strongly.

"If you must know, I was an angel." She replied primly, not that she remembered and she doubted the Dursley's thought she was anything but a nuisance. "Now, if you're done stalking me around the store, I can finish my list and we can all go home." Grace said, looking over her list and happily knowing the only thing she had missed was the milk.

The milk had always been a contention point on the list. Most of the time Petunia only wanted 'the good stuff', which meant a brand name. Sometimes, however, she wanted a cheaper option because she wanted to save for something special. The irritating part of that happened to be that the witch (pun very much not intended) never told her which one it had to be. It was like a silent game between them: would Grace figure it out this time? It had taken years of doing the groceries for her to find a pattern but even then Petunia like to change her mind often enough that it was hell trying to figure it out.

So here she stood, facing milk and giving up on hoping her aunt had any sort of common sense at all. It probably didn't help that Petunia liked to blame Grace for everything that went wrong in the world. Oil spill in the ocean? Grace did it. Houses on fire? Grace did it. Surprise change of weather? Grace did it. There was no end to the list of things Grace was responsible for according to her aunt. She used to think it would be exhausting, but it seemed to make her aunt feel better. Grace wondered what the hag would do once she was gone for good.

"I don't recall me doing anything of the sort. I do recall you enjoying pummelling innocent bystanders with your cart and it only seems fair that I save them from your destructive rampage." James stated, shaking her out of her own head and turning to look at his mischievous smirk.

"But where will I get my enjoyment from, now that you've declared yourself a saviour of the terrible shopping cart horrors?" She parried back, trying to suppress a smile she hadn't known was forming.

"I'm sure you can think of something." He said with a smile and a wink.

"Stalker." She muttered at him with narrowed eyes, enjoying the light banter far more than she had thought she would.

Sirius was still a hole in her heart, still possessed a part of her she wasn't sure she would ever give back, but this stranger in front of her was a nice break in her monotonous life. That, and her magic wouldn't stop telling her how much it liked him. Turns out she could be influenced by her magic.

Not that her mind had stopped thinking how suspicious he was, because he was. Suspicious. She just didn't think she had to do anything with that information. At most, he would follow her home and be confronted by her guards, or worse, aunt Petunia. Sure, he could technically kidnap her just outside the store but for some, probably very idiotic, reason she was deciding it was ok to have a modicum of trust in a stranger.

His lips twitched. "More than you know."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" Grace demanded in a huff, immediately groaning at how wrong she could be after having _just_ decided he was sure to be a normal. "You're not going to kidnap me are you? Because I'm telling you right now I'm absolutely terrible at listening. And I have the worst luck imaginable, which could only include you since you seem intent on stalking me."

"You know, the more you talk about stalking, the more I think you might like the idea." James said with a pondering tone as he looked at her a little incredulously.

"I assure you, I don't." She told him with a frown.

She decided she had had enough of her 'maybe he is, maybe he isn't' and grabbed a random milk option before plunking it down in her cart and walking to the registers in a huff. "Stupid magic wanting things that don't make sense." She muttered quietly and darkly as she walked away.

"So you just like me then?" James asked innocently, walking quickly just to keep up with her. Grace decided it was best for everyone involved (mostly herself) to keep quiet and just walk away.

"You know, I think I've just about had it with you." She stated firmly as she walked up to an open register and plopped her shopping down on it.

"That's not a very nice thing to say to your new neighbour." He said with a laugh as he put his shopping down behind hers.

Grace's eyes grew large. "You're the new neighbour?" She asked in surprise, completely caught off guard.

He chuckled. "That's me. The handsome new neighbour that you watched most of the day moving in."

Which was of course why he seemed so damned friendly! He already knew her! She blushed a furious red again as her eyes darted to his face and back to the cashier who watched them with an interest she was uncomfortable with.

"You saw that?" She asked softly as she paid.

"Pretty girl like you watching me? Of course I saw." James replied, as the cashier quickly beeped his things through. Grace was suspicious enough to think that the cashier was doing it on purpose.

"Sorry about that." She replied, done with her shopping and bagging.

She gave him a shrug and then turned around and walked away, not knowing how to say goodbye but also not really wanting to wait. If she waited, it would get back to aunt Petunia who would no doubt sour the nice interaction she was having with someone who didn't see her as a delinquent. It had been nice to feel normal, even if it was the weirdest kind of normal she had ever had.

"Don't want to be seen with me?" He asked as he came up beside her, laughter in his voice and amber eyes sparkling, but there was a hardness in his face that made her blink at him.

"Just don't want you to be late. I mean, I did already injure you and I couldn't bear it if I was the cause of more misfortune for you today." She said, giving him a half-truth that would be more easily accepted.

The hardness receded and he gave her a soft smile and a shrug. He hadn't tried to hide the look, but he also didn't seem too worried about it. She didn't know what it said about her that she appreciated honesty like that.

He stopped her at the corner she had rested against earlier and grabbed her bags gently from her hands before putting them down next to her. She blinked at him in pure bewilderment and in her moment of _whattheheckareyoudoingyouweirdo_ she missed the moment he stepped into her space and backed her into the wall. He hummed and reached out to caress a few stray hairs behind her left ear. The touch burned her skin, leaving a trail of warmth and magic that had her gasping air in surprise. Her body thrummed, her senses suddenly jumped like a live wire and she was hyper aware of the male in front of her, so close that she was breathing the same air.

"You," he said softly, "will never be any kind of misfortune for me. Because of you, I think my luck has finally changed." The finger trailed down her throat and a warm hand cupped her neck, lingering and holding in equal measures.

"Luck never changes with me." She said just as softly, staring into his warm hazel eyes and feeling wholly out of her depth. "Always the worst kind, really."

He smiled softly at her again and put his hands on her hips and tugged her a little closer, close enough she could feel his body heat and felt her magic wrapped around him, seeking, wanting, holding.

"Trust me, little lion, your luck has changed."

She couldn't think, couldn't breathe. There was so much warmth, his hands were like a brand, searing her through her clothing and marking his territory. She wanted him closer, she wanted to feel warm arms around her, wanted something living and breathing touching her to assure her she was still whole, still there.

This was why she hadn't wanted to touch him earlier; this was why she tried so hard to keep to casual touches around her friends. A little had never been enough, she wanted to be curled into someone's arms and soak up the contact but she knew that wasn't what most people did. Wasn't what normal people did. They didn't crave a hug to be longer than the few seconds it usually was, they didn't feel the burn of someone's touch long after they had stopped touching them, they didn't _want_ longer contact.

Why did she have to be so strange? Why was she letting this unfamiliar person manhandle her like this? Why was her magic practically dancing around her like this was everything it had always wanted? Was she really that broken? Had Sirius affected her so much that this was the result? A stranger looming over her while he told her all the things she wanted to hear?

Before she could even contemplate the ramifications of her actions, James softly kissed her forehead. He peered into her eyes before smiling when he saw her bewildered look before giving her a nod and walking away. She stood there, leaning against the wall, for far shorter than it felt like before shaking out of her daze and grabbing her bags, only noticing at aunt Petunia's that she had picked up his bag as well. Which turned out to help her since she had missed a few items that James had picked up. Which, _what_?

She spent the rest of the day refusing to think about what had just happened, what she had just allowed without even thinking about it. She refused to deal with it. She refused to excuse her behaviour and she refused to feel guilty for not doing anything to push him away.

She needed a bloody mind healer.

\---******---

It took her a grand total of three days and seven cringe worthy memory repeats before she frowned and wondered why he had seemed so familiar. It took an hour after that to figure out it was because she had seen him before (and not because he was her neighbour) and two minutes after that to open the album Hagrid had given her of her parents.

James.

Fucking _James_!

The man was completely unsubtle and to add insult to injury, it took her three days to figure it out! _Three. Days_! She seriously suspected that it had taken her that long to figure out it was him because he wasn't wearing his glasses. Glasses! As if he was fucking Superman by simply throwing away his glasses!

And fine, yes, Superman was different because it wasn't just glasses but a whole new personality but since she had never known James she had nothing to compare him to other than his pictures. Which she apparently didn’t know all too well. She was mildly ashamed of herself for that too. Ok, incredibly ashamed but since nobody was ever going to find out (James obviously didn't count), she allowed herself some leeway. After she punched him in the face.

Fucking prat.

What a mess! Not to mention the fact that she now had to keep this information to herself. If she told anyone that James was back from the dead they would declare her as insane as she felt right now, so telling people was out of the equation. And that was only part of the problem. If they did know that he was back it meant that they were keeping the information from her and therefore it wasn't safe for her to let on that she knew he was back. So they were either still investigating him or they weren't sure James was actually James, which, fair point.

How could she really trust that this stranger who looked like her not-father was actually her not-father? Polyjuice was impossible but she was sure there were spells out there that could trick her if they tried. On the other hand if Dumbledore and the Order already knew he was back and had ascertained that James was James yet had decided not to tell her, it meant two things.

One: James wasn't a trusted member yet and they were still suspicious of him. Also a good point and one she mostly stood behind.

Two: Dumbledore stood firmly behind his 'no contact' order and was simply waiting for the right time to tell her. Not great. For her anyway.

If the second then James was trusted and all was well but they were being dicks and keeping her out of the loop and away from the only father in her life. As far as they knew, of course.

She had a sneaking suspicion, however, that it was more that the Order didn't trust him yet. If he wasn't trusted, telling the Order that she already knew that he was 'back from the dead' meant that she would be watched more closely and that James would be kept away from her longer than he already had. Assuming he had come from the past not too long ago.

Which left her with quite the pickle. He hadn't lied to her. He was here and he was alive, but was he really trustworthy enough to believe him about the rest of his story? She had seen the new neighbour not a day ago and it was most assuredly _not_ James, which meant he lied to her about that, probably to gain her trust. If he lied about that, what else was he lying to her about?

There wasn't a speck of evidence that said she could trust him and beyond that, he himself had said he was a terrible person. Fuck, he had even given her proof that he was horrible! But did his lying mean she had to automatically trust Dumbledore? She didn't know that either. Dumbledore had kept a huge fucking secret from her too, one that had cost Sirius his life. If only Dumbledore had trusted her enough earlier. If only she had known the whole story then Sirius would still be alive and he could be with her now. But he wasn't and she had no idea what to do.

The part that was more than a little alarming was the fact that he apparently had an unhealthy interest in her. No parental figure would ever make those kinds of overtures towards those they considered their children. Which either meant he felt responsible for her in a _sure-you're-not-related-to-me-but-I-still-like-you_ way, or the more concerning _I'm-interested-in-you-so-you-should-be-mine_ way. She had the strong suspicion it was the second because there was no evidence in her life that would ever point to the first. Mostly because he had told her point blank that that was the reason he was here. For her.

Except this had made her only more suspicious of him. He was clearly playing some kind of game, pretending to be a stranger just to get closer to her. But to what end? What was he trying to find out? Was he trying to get closer to her before she was influenced by other's opinions of him? Possible, but unlikely. James Potter seemed to be a man who would only put in twice the effort when meeting a closed door. So then what? Why go through all this trouble to see her? She wanted to scream in frustration. The only person who had these answers was James himself and she knew she couldn't contact him unless he contacted her first.

All that aside, she now had to face the uncomfortable fact that her magic had all but latched on to James Potter. The dead man who was clearly obsessed with her and her magic was happy with him. The worst part, and a sad truth in her life, was that she had no one she could discuss this with. Everyone she could possibly approach was on a communication lockdown and the one person she really wanted to talk to she wasn't supposed to know existed.

James Potter was the only one who had the answers she was looking for and the only one who was farther away from her than she could ever imagine. She swore she was cursed and that it actually had very little to do with Voldemort. Which was almost refreshing, in a depressing kind of way.

The big question here was whether or not she even wanted him close to her. Yes she found him attractive (and wasn't that just fucked up) and yes he sparked something in her magic that made her want something she couldn't verbalize, but this was the man who hadn't told her who he was and cheated Death just to make sure he would be there for her. For what? Why? Having her magic spark with the person who she believed was her father for the majority of her life made her ill. How could she want him?

Unless it was a sign that her magic wanted him for that parental figure? A subtle nudge that her magic had known him for a year of her life and recognized safety when it came across it. Maybe all of this was just in her head and she was making it out to be much worse than it actually was. Maybe James Potter just wanted the girl he thought of as a daughter and she was so fucked up from Sirius that she was reading all the wrong signals. Maybe she was wrong.

If she took the time to look at everything that had happened through the eyes of someone looking for a father figure, the pieces fit just as well as someone who wanted..._more_. She could have easily misinterpreted the letter he had sent her through Gringotts. She could have easily misinterpreted his behaviour outside the grocery store. All he had done was try to have a conversation with her. He had essentially given her a hug, a kiss on the head, and told her she wasn't alone anymore. He told her she didn't have to be alone anymore because he was here now and whatever came her way, he would be there to share the burden.

Maybe she was wrong, reading all the immoral signals to paint James as something that she could deny and stay away from. Or maybe this was what she wanted him to be to her? Was she really that far gone?

Maybe what she really wanted, what she wasn't even ready to confess to herself, was someone who was just hers. Someone who would choose only her, whose only focus would always be Grace. It was selfish and unrealistic but she still craved it. Maybe this was her way of making up for her broken childhood, for all the years she had been in danger since she stepped into the Wizarding world.

She didn't know what to do with that, what to do with the conflicting thoughts and feelings that had been thrown her way. What she really needed, above all else, was more information. Answers.

So. No telling people her not-dead not-father was alive and well and in this century, no letting people on to the fact that she knew he wasn't as dead as he appeared, and no letting on to the fact that her not-father had visited her and made her a little more crazy than she already was. What was her life coming to?

Grace sighed deeply and wished she could have been anyone else in the world. Fucking wizards.

\---******---

He had her. He had held her, touched her, breathed her in. In the years he had been here he had never been able to get that close to her without someone becoming suspicious of him. He had stayed away, had waited, had watched, had calculated.

Those **_pigs_** were hurting _his girl_. He saw the way she moved, saw the sides she favoured when she was injured, saw how carefully she walked when something was wrong. He saw the way Dursley had changed over the summer, saw how he had started to look just a little too long at someone that wasn’t his to have.

His rage had grown over the years as his visions of what he would do to them grew. He couldn't do anything just yet, not now that he was so close to getting everything he had always wanted. He had to wait for Dursley to experience everything he had in mind for thinking of taking something that didn’t belong to him.

He just had to wait a little longer, just had to reel her in a little more. Make her safe, make her loved, make her trust.

Then he could go to work. Then she would appreciate the gifts he had in mind for her.

_No one_ would _ever_ lay another finger on her without consequence.

James simply needed to wait a little longer.

Just a little longer.

\---******---

Storm clouds rolling in over grey skies. Harsh winds whipping around her. Rain splattering through the winds, hitting her bare skin and soaking her clothing. Need sparked in her heart and she screamed it out into the night. Heat rose from the ground and wrapped itself around her, anchoring her and cocooning her in safety.

He had come for her.

He wanted her.

She craved what he could give her, what he was promising her.

Sirius had opened the door. He had given her a need and satisfied her soul, letting her gorge on him until he started feeding her more and more.

Before he had become careless. Before he had been ripped from her hands. She had been drowning and using everything inside of her to stay afloat. To close the door again. To become the knight they needed.

To forget the want.

To ignore the need.

To stifle the hunger.

But he was here now. He was here and he had called out her name. Should she answer? Would she quench her thirst in his offering?

She turned at the sound of his voice-

-and gasped awake as Petunia shoved her breakfast through the cat flap.

Sweat dripped from her skin as she tried to calm her racing heart.

Would she fall?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tag for swearing: yes or no?
> 
> Also, I know it was a lot of explaining, but it all comes back later so getting this down now is important (including the Cedric part). Stick with me!


	4. Light of Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No beta, too lazy to correct mistakes!  
Cautious warning: casual mentions of off screen abuse
> 
> I'm blatantly ignoring the whole 'we can't go to Grimmauld Place until it's safe' because plot reasons.

It honestly hadn't surprised her that after close to a month of solitary confinement she still had no word on her parole. She had realized, of course, that she could have easily asked one of her guards to pass on a message or to even ask when she was going to be allowed to leave, but logic had quickly stepped in with the realization that she couldn't actually do that.

If she did ask then she would let them know that she knew she was being watched when she shouldn't be aware of it at all, probably giving away some of her trade secrets. Grace was known for jumping in head first, all action no thought, and telling them she knew about all her watchers and hadn't done a single thing to call attention to it would mean letting them know she was hiding parts of herself.

Parts that would probably call far too much attention to why she knew what she knew. She wasn't about to red alert her situation, not now she was so close to freedom. Just a few more weeks and she'd never have to come back and no one, _no one_, would ever make her. Emancipation was a glorious thing.

Besides that, apart from Ron and Hermione telling her outright last summer that she had guards, no one had actually made her aware of the fact despite them blatantly talking about it in her vicinity. She could have easily used that as an excuse but it was honestly just easier to pretend ignorance until caught out. It made it easier for people to underestimate her and it served in her best interests.

"Girl!" A booming voice called her from inside the house.

Scrambling up from the grass she quickly made her way inside, holding her ribs as securely as she could so they wouldn't move too much. Her last accident was only a few nights ago and the look uncle Vernon gave her after spelled trouble. Not that trouble wasn't her middle name anyway, but this was the kind of trouble that made even Voldemort pale in comparison.

The fat lump was taking his sudden unique interest in her six steps too far and she wasn't liking the knowledge of where it would eventually lead. Safety, she had learned over and over again, was an illusion.

"Yes, uncle Vernon?" She asked, finding him in the living room. "Professor Dumbledore!" She blurted out, her eyes finding his purple robes like a beacon in the perfectly normal setting. "What are you doing here?"

Part of her was relieved and part of her was a little sad. Relieved that his presence meant that she would finally be leaving this hell hole again, but sad because she wouldn't see James again. To be fair, she hadn't seen James since the shopping cart incident, but she still kept an eye out for him despite the fact that she knew he didn’t actually live here. Mostly because she was still intent on giving him a piece of her mind for his duplicity. And her fist. Probably more her fist.

"My dear girl, I have some serious business to discuss with you, after which we shall leave. Does this sound amenable?" Dumbledore asked fairly seriously.

She almost snorted and replied sarcastically how she would love to spend more time with her dear, _dear_ relatives but she was afraid he'd miss the sarcasm and make her stay. Adults did odd things like that.

"That'd be brilliant, sir!" She replied instead.

Oh, she still didn't trust Dumbledore any more than she did Voldemort at this point, but both of them had their uses and where Voldemort would off her as soon as he saw her, Dumbledore seemed to want to keep her alive. When faced with instant death and a maybe temporary non-death, one tends to choose life however temporary it may be.

The real problem was that she still didn't know where Dumbledore really fell in her book. Was he a problem for her? Was James right? Dumbledore had kept a fairly big secret from her, one that could have changed everything but had instead chosen to keep it to himself. It made her question what else he was keeping from her for her 'own good'. It made her question whether or not he could be trusted. It made her question too much and perhaps not enough.

"What do we need to discuss?" She asked, looking at the man who was partly responsible for her new suspicious outlook.

Dumbledore smiled at her and gave the still present uncle Vernon a pointed look. Vernon huffed indignantly and, without glancing at her or uttering a word at all (which she knew was terribly hard for him), he left the room.

"There now. As you know, Sirius passed away this summer and the ownership of Grimmauld place seems to be..."

"Up in the air?" Grace added helpfully, as they both sat down.

Dumbledore nodded and continued. "To make sure that our secrets stay secret, and that we have a place where the Order can gather and plan, we need to establish ownership."

Grace nodded her head and adjusted her facial expression to be politely confused. She knew she owned the house now (which really was something she couldn't ever forget after sifting through hours of bloody files) but to acknowledge that would mean that Dumbledore would know that she was now Lord Black, and she knew it wasn't the time to play those cards just yet.

She didn't know enough about the world around her to know what her options where. She was an emancipated minor with several Houses under her belt, but what did that mean for the war? What did it mean for her personally, socially? More to the point, what would Dumbledore do with the information that she would give him? She couldn’t risk answering those questions, not now when everything was too new for her to understand it all properly. She needed more time to be certain of where she wanted to stand.

"Of course professor, but how can I help?" She asked instead.

Dumbledore smiled gratefully but still seemed to be a little tense. "Well my dear, if you would just call for Kreacher all of this can be solved quite quickly."

"Oh, erm, right. Just...just call him then?" She asked, making an effort to look both surprised and unsure.

It wasn't like she could let on that she had purposefully called a house-elf before. Secrets, especially big ones like hers, had so many pitfalls that she actually had to think before she said anything. If she had called Kreacher without a prompt, Dumbledore might have noticed something amiss. He might be old, but he was as sharp as ever.

"With confidence, if you will, Ms. Potter." Dumbledore said with a sure nod.

"Confidence. Right. Er, here goes then. Kreacher?" Dumbledore's eye twitched at her unsure tone of voice and she muffled the bubble of laughter it caused before it could have spilled over her lips.

Before she could do much more than suppress a giggle about the twitch, Kreacher appeared before them with a loud crack and was holding what looked like a muggle super soaker. Dudley had had six before he tired of the toy and she only clearly remembered that because he took great pains to catch her off guard as often as possible. She had been only too happy when Petunia had tired of having a wet house and refused to buy him another once the last one had inevitably broken.

She blinked at the house-elf and then frowned at the toy. "Eh, Kreacher, what are doing with the super soaker?"

Kreacher's eyes grew wide and he seemed to smile at her, which only served to scare the living daylights out of her. He looked a little demented and saying that about an already demented looking house-elf didn't do anyone any favours. She may even have started re-thinking leaving the Dursley's but then gave herself a stern talking to about ridiculous notions. Who in their right minds would ever voluntarily stay here? Unless she was still going with the 'Grocery run Voldemort murder' plan, she silently amended, that could still work out in her favour.

"Kreacher thanks Lady Black for the information. Is there something Lady Black needs from Kreacher?" Grace's eyes grew wide at his overly polite tone, silently freaking out that he had called her Lady Black and she spluttered over a 'no' before Kreacher popped away.

She looked at Dumbledore with wide, panicked eyes that she hoped looked more like surprise than fear. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something and she wondered if Kreacher's personality transplant had anything to do with it.

"Why did he call me Lady Black? And why was he holding a super soaker?!" Grace asked, trying to jolt the man back to the conversation at hand.

She didn't need to know how troubled Dumbledore was currently since she was sure it had at least something to do with James, the super soaker seemed to have given her evidence enough of that. It seemed to do the trick though, since Dumbledore's eyes brightened and he chuckled happily, even as she saw the shadows linger in his eyes that belayed the joy.

"As to you being Lady Black, I believe it is just a title for the time being. Sirius named you his Heir and house-elves are quite the traditional lot. As for the muggle toy," His face darkened quite a bit before he continued, "I do believe our newest guest has been making a place for himself. But no matter, this clears up quite a bit. I daresay we can continue occupying Grimmauld Place."

"New guest, sir?" Her heart rate picked up a little.

Was he actually going to tell her the truth for once? Did that mean James had been cleared? Dumbledore merely hummed a positive without giving her an answer and seemed to change tracks before she could even ask him about it. She frowned at that, knowing that whatever was going on was something that she was being kept out of. Again.

Holy fuck, but she was getting tired of saying that. How many fucking times did people have to shut her out before they realized she would stop trying to barge her way in? How many times before they realized she would make her own damn plans? How many times before she stopped caring altogether?

How dare they keep James away from her! How dare they pretend he wasn't here, how fucking dare Dumbledore not even say anything when she was point blank asking him? Was this how he intended to go about things after the last conversation they had? Was this really how he intended to 'handle' her?

James was her father, or, ok, no not really, but as far as they knew he was her father and the fact that Dumbledore, as the head of the Order of the Phoenix, refused to even tell her he existed made her question his motives more than she already had. Was this really how her life was going to go now? Wondering who she could and couldn't trust for the rest of her life? She sure hoped not.

"Alas, we don't have much time, my dear Grace. Is your trunk packed?" Dumbledore asked, making Grace scramble up at the words and almost dive towards the stairs in her haste to get her things.

"Almost sir, just a few last minute things to throw in." She told quickly him before racing up the stairs and grabbing everything she owned before throwing it willy-nilly into her trunk and hoping it would all fit and the trunk would close when she was done.

She was lucky that she had managed to grab her trunk from the cupboard under the stairs only a few days after coming here. She was even luckier that she had kept most of her things packed and ready to go just in case someone came to collect her earlier than anticipated (which was mostly wishful thinking on her part).

She grabbed her things from under the loose floor boards and threw them in her trunk, the text books she had been using for her homework that were on the desk were next and before she even knew it, she was roughly dragging her trunk down the staircase, letting it thunk heavily on every step. If this was her very last day here (and she'd bloody well make sure it would be) then she wanted to make sure she left a dent in this awful house. Literally. Petunia could choke on the scuff marks.

She practically ran into the living room and found that Dumbledore hadn't seemed to move much other than standing up. He turned to her when she entered and nodded at her in approval before he held out his arm for her.

"I daresay you've apparated before, young Grace?" Had she? She didn't think so, so she simply shook her head and looked questioningly at his arm. He chuckled. "Not to worry dear girl, simply grab on to my arm and don't let go."

She tried her best not to sigh deeply, but any advice that stated 'don't let go' usually didn't mean a lot of positive things in her book. Instead of voicing this opinion, she simply grabbed his arm in one hand and her trunk in the other and hoped for the best. At least it wasn't Voldemort, she thought idly, as Dumbledore made a funny half turn and suddenly she felt as if she was being squeezed through a narrow tube.

Her ribs were screaming at her and her breath shortened and she was seconds away from screaming in agony when the feeling stopped and she was dropped on her knees in front of Grimmauld Place, chest heaving as she gulped in much needed air.

She had wrapped up her ribs with magic when she had met James and had let her magic slowly heal the fracture that Dudley had caused until she was satisfied that the rest could be healed naturally. And it had. Just fine. The fact of the matter was that she had forgotten (clearly a lapse in judgement on her part) that she was in hell and that she needed to be careful every moment of the day. So when she had woken Vernon up with her nightmare, well, he was less than pleased.

She was also less than pleased that the almost healed fracture had re-fractured under his heavy fist. She wasn't a fan of 'just taking it' and had stupidly decided that she wouldn't just let him wail on her and had fought back. All the good it had done her too. Not only was she weaker, smaller, and had started out in a position that meant she was clearly not going to be winning, he decided to show her exactly what this sudden surge of defiance would cost her.

A broken wrist. She had screamed so loudly she had woken Petunia up and had startled Vernon enough that he seemed to blink out of whatever mindset he had fallen into. She firmly didn't want to think what might have happened if she hadn't been surprised by the snap and hadn't screamed.

Nevertheless, she had to pick her which one of her injuries would need her magical attention and having a fractured rib paled in comparison to a broken wrist. It had sapped her energy and magic for the past week and she had been too weak to even contemplate healing anything else. Something she was clearly paying for now.

Taking in deep breaths and trying not to either pass out or throw up, she leaned against her trunk and let Dumbledore pat her on the shoulder in what she assumed was supposed to be a comforting manner. Having every pat jolt her ribs did not comfort make in her book.

"Fear not, it happens to us all. Are you ready, my dear?" He asked, a few pats later.

She wasn't sure she could talk yet, so she simply nodded her head and followed him as the building jumped into existence before her eyes. Dumbledore opened the door and stepped in the hallway, making sure to gesture to her to make as little sound as possible. Having never forgotten the screaming portrait, she nodded again and dragged her trunk in as quietly as possible until they were relatively safe in the living room.

"Shouldn't we try to get rid of her?" Grace whispered, nodding towards the door that led to the hallway housing the atrocious portrait of Walburga Black.

Dumbledore sighed. "I truly wish it was possible, but so far nothing has seemed to be able to do the job, I fear."

"Fire should work." Grace mumbled darkly, watching as Dumbledore closed the door so that they would be free to speak in normal tones.

Before he could answer her, a brown bushy blob threw itself at her, arms coming around her shoulders and dragging her into a tight hug.

"Omph! Blimey Hermione! Are you trying to kill me?" Grace groused, the pain from her ribs making her temper far shorter than it had been previously, though eating a face full of hair wasn't exactly at the top of her 'fun' list either.

Hermione let her go with a sheepish look before giving her a blinding smile. "You're finally here! And in time for your birthday too for once!" She said with a glowing look on her face.

Though Grace was sure she meant it as a good thing, it just served to remind her that not only had her best friend been ignoring her so far, but also that she would actually be celebrating her birthday with people who had been happy to leave her in ignorance. Not to mention the fact that she had been having some serious repercussions from the past two years where she had received no help or even adult support to help her through her trauma.

Now on top of that she also had to find a way to deal with Sirius' death while also fearing for her life because she finally understood why Voldemort wouldn't leave her the hell alone. Unless it turned out that what James had alluded to actually was true on some level and that (for the first time in her life) she was actually safe from the insane dictator.

The thought of James had her stepping away from Hermione with a scowl and turning to look around the room, wondering what had changed since the property had landed in her lap. She didn't notice anything different, not after the past two summers spent in here. She did, however, notice that Ron had slowly ambled in, giving her an unsure smile but seemingly still happy to see her.

"Hey Grace. Had a good summer then?" He asked, trying for nonchalance and failing miserably.

It was probably meant to be welcoming but all it did was remind her that her supposed best friends had refused to keep contact with her for the second summer running. Between one blink and the next, her scowl had turned into a nicely simmering anger that she had no problem embracing.

She sneered at him. "Yes, quite the summer, all those letters you two sent kept me really happy." Hermione winced and Ron looked away from her accusing eyes. "It really feels like last summer all over again, doesn't it?" Grace added, hoping to twist the knife of guilt just a little more.

Seriously, who the fuck did they think they were? They were her friends, not her watchers, not her keepers, and most certainly not her parents! On one level, sure, she really did understand why they had decided to follow Dumbledore's orders but on the other hand, the very least they could have done was send her an owl letting her know that they couldn't send her any more owls. It left her feeling angry and hurt and that was something she never liked feeling so she took it out on the people who made her feel that way.

"Dumbledore told us your mail was being watched. He told us we would put you in more danger if we tried to contact you, put the whole Order in danger since Sirius died without us knowing who his Heir was." Hermione told her quickly, eyes pleading for her to understand.

She raised her eyebrows. "And you had no other conceivable method in which to contact me, was that it?"

"How were we supposed to do that mate?" Ron asked, perplexed.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe someone like a house-elf? You've lived in the wizarding world your whole life, but you never thought to contact anyone other than through owl mail?" She yelled at him.

Alright, now she fully understood she was being petty here because there was no way they could have used Kreacher because the git had lied and then led Sirius to his death. And also, they had no idea who the next Lord Black was and obviously had no way of getting a different house-elf, so you know, fair.

Not that logic meant all that much to her because Hermione was the smartest witch their age and she happily nodded her head and said 'yes sir' to whatever the adults told her. Which left Ron, who had two twin brothers who very much could have helped him come up with some ingenious way to keep in touch. For heaven's sake, the Marauders had those stupid two-way mirrors! Surely Fred and George could have figured _something_ out? Not that she would ever know because apparently they were all too pleased to leave her in Dursley hell while they enjoyed their time together in _her_ house.

Before Ron could respond the door opened once again and Remus stepped through, followed closely by a few Order members she couldn't even be bothered to give her attention to. It wasn't like they cared about her much more than what she could do for the war after all.

Remus’ eyes darted around the room, taking in the situation and before looking at her and smiling widely. Her eyes drank him in and the tension in her body drifted away. He opened his arms and without a word she ran into them, noticing Ron looking particularly angry out of the corner of her eye.

Well, she wasn't going to apologize for her outburst, that was for sure. The least they could do was say sorry and Grace had a feeling that would be a long time coming since it was clear that neither of her so-called friends seemed to be feeling particularly at fault.

"Hello cub." Remus said softly, rubbing her back with one hand while the other arm was securely around her waist and holding her close.

"Hi Remus. Missed you." She muttered softly into his brown cardigan.

Ever since fourth year, the Tournament of Death, Remus had made the effort to keep in touch with her, make sure she was at least mildly alright and offered his help in any way he could give it. She would never take him up on that offer but she was pleased he had thought to make it at all.

He leaned closer to her and sniffed her neck. He stiffened a little before whispering in her ear. "You smell like pain and hurt, cub."

"Fell down the stairs Moony, my ribs hurt." She told the wolf, laying her head on his chest and closing her eyes as her arms tightened around him.

This was what she needed, what she had craved all these weeks. Security. Kindness. Safety. Someone who simply cared enough to ask.

"How bad?" The wolf growled. And it was the wolf now, she could hear it in his voice, feel the arm around her waist tighten slightly without adding too much pressure that it would hurt her.

"Not too bad. Maybe cracked, but I don't think broken." His growl turned deeper, vibrated through his chest and into her body.

It felt like another hug and it made her want to cry. Why the hell were the people that actually cared for her being kept from her? Of course, if they really did care for her why hadn't Remus tried to make contact before? Why hadn't he looked her up before getting a teaching position at Hogwarts? Why had she always been the last item on the list? Questions that always swirled around her head and questions she didn’t like to linger over, not now that she was in the arms of a wolf who could quite literally smell the change in her emotions.

"And why wasn't it look at before?" He asked in a dangerous voice, breaking her out of her doubts.

She didn't need him to question her right now, all she really wanted was the comfort he could offer her. The rest would intrude later as it always did, one way or another.

"Didn't have the time, and I figured I could take care of it later. Dumbledore showed up out of nowhere."

Which wasn't a lie, per se, it just hadn't happened in that order. Grace had become very adept at lying through the years and was very good at using the truth to lie. She had never had a problem keeping her stories straight (she really didn't want to thank the Dursley's for that, but, well) and had learned very early on that using a truth would make a lie more believable since it had actually happened. It also helped her when she found out that Remus' wolf was a shade too good at figuring out when she was flat out lying.

"Grace, there's something we need to tell you." Hermione interrupted, irritating Grace that she would insinuate herself in her moment with Remus.

Grace lifted her head to look at her, wondering what on earth was more important than the man who was now holding her. "Is it important?"

Hermione shared a heavy look with Ron and nodded slowly. "About the most important thing you could ever imagine." Ron told her.

She snorted. "So important you had to wait until I got here instead of telling me in a letter? That kind of important?" She snarked at them.

Remus, she noticed, looked amused but both Ron and Hermione looked a strange mix between hopeful and ashamed. It suddenly clicked for Grace then. James. They were fucking trying to tell her about James, something that Dumbledore should have told her before he had apparated her here. Maybe given her a heads up at the very least. Then again, if she knew anything about how Dumbledore went about things, she knew that this was either a test for James or a test for her. The question was what the test would prove?

"It's to do with...a person." Hermione said slowly as she ignored Grace’s accusation before faltering and looking first at Ron and then at Remus for help.

The silence stretched longer than Grace liked. Mostly because she hated being left out of the loop but also because she already knew what was going on and the quicker this charade could play out, the quicker she would get the answers she had been fuming over for the past few weeks.

"Moony?" Grace asked finally when they didn't seem to want to continue speaking, looking up at the only living person who looked at her like she was family.

He sighed deeply while adjusting her in his arms but didn't let go of her, seeming just as reluctant to tell her as her 'friends'.

"It's best to just say it. I assume Dumbledore didn't tell you?"

She shook her head no. "Not unless it has anything to do with me calling Kreacher and him showing up with a super soaker?"

Remus gave a surprised bark of laughter that filled the space between them. "So you were the one who figured out what it was called!"

"Dudley had about six of them, I better know what they were called." She said smiling, liking how his eyes had lit up with joy.

It was a good look on him and something she wanted him to have more of. Remus ruffled her hair in affection and she growled at him in mock offense because he knew she hated that. It was something that never failed to make him laugh, even now when he should be explaining James' sudden appearance to her. As a silent apology he probably didn't mean since he was bound to do it again some time, he ran his fingers through her black hair to smooth it out again.

While he was doing this the door opened again and a tall man with unruly black hair and hazel eyes stepped into the room, moving around the other Order members who had been quiet so far, happy to let her friends break the news to her instead of stepping up and telling her properly. _Adults_. Honestly.

He hadn't noticed her attention on him yet which allowed her to watch him as he looked at Remus with piercing eyes and something deeper she couldn't name. Had she been wrong? Had James really just wanted the girl he knew for a year as his daughter back? Or was he twisted enough to want to raise his own bride? In her moment of thought she missed when his eyes chose to focus on her. The look he gave her made her shiver down to her toes and she couldn't decide if that was bad or good.

It was possessive and hard, frightening in its intensity and not for the first time she wished he wouldn't see her as his daughter. She had no words for how absolutely disturbing that was to even think, even consider, but this man, this living, breathing, alive man, had stood in front of her and promised her things she only dreamed of. Trust. Safety. Home. Family. She wanted what he offered, wanted more than he offered but would happily take anything he would give. Wanted it so much she was misinterpreting everything he said and did.

She really did need a mind healer.

"Hello Gracie." The 'stranger' said. His voice was just as deep and commanding as when they had met in the store, her fascination with him bound tightly with confusion and shame that still burned through her heart for betraying Sirius for the way the stranger had made her feel. "Did you miss me, love?" He smiled at her, his voice soft while his body was tense as he watched her every move.

She frowned in aggravation that she quickly masked to confusion in front of probing eyes because first of fucking all, he didn't even have the decency to tell her who he was so she was stuck watching him like he was nutter. Or a new Order member. It was practically the same thing these days.

Second of all, she only ever had pictures of her 'parents' and in those pictures James still had glasses. It physically hurt her to admit that once you knew it was him, there wasn't a lick of difference but she shouldn't know that yet. He was a stranger who was too familiar with her because he hadn't even introduced himself like a normal person.

Then it hit her.

He wasn't technically _allowed_ to introduce himself! She was a Lord now, of two Houses and had a higher standing than the Potter's, thus he needed to wait to give her his name. Well, actually, he needed someone who was acquainted with her to handle the introductions or he would be seen as giving her a slight. So instead of introducing himself or letting anyone else know that they had to do the introductions, he simply stood there.

Staring at her.

Smirking.

James Potter was a fucking prat of the highest order. Merlin.

Did he actually know that she was Lord though? She had been keeping that a secret from everyone, so logically he shouldn't know that. Which meant that he wasn't doing it because she was a Lord but because she was a woman and technically a stranger. It floored her to realize that he was giving her the respect she should have had as a witch, as a woman (regardless of her standing). He was telling her that she mattered, that what she wanted mattered and that he would respect her boundaries. All by not saying a single thing. How could this man, this stranger, give her more autonomy in two sentences than every single person she had ever met in the Wizarding world?

While she was staring at him like he was a crazy stranger (not too far off in her opinion) a few members of the Order started to shuffle about feeling awkward at the blatant 'who are you' in her face which had probably slowly morphed into awkwardness.

Diggle and Vance were quietly discussing something as their eyes played a quick tennis match between James and herself, only stopping in embarrassment when they caught Grace looking at them. Quickly getting tired of the stalemate and having the ‘stranger danger’ card up her sleeve, she decided to end it.

"Hello?" Grace asked unsurely, watching as a smirk passed quickly over James' lips in response. If she didn't know any better, she would have thought that he was enjoying the mess he was making of her life. She looked up at Remus who looked back at her with unfathomable eyes so she looked back at James. "Do I know you? I mean, have we met? Because I'm sorry, I don't remember your name." She stumbled out, enjoying how a fair few of her observers cringed at the knowledge that no one had had the decency to give him a proper introduction.

She also enjoyed the subtle dig at James that she didn't even remember his name from their last meeting. Since he was obviously not memorable enough to spend hours working out how hard to punch him in the face. Obviously. She may possibly still have grudge about how he went about meeting her, hardly her fault.

Of all the people in the room to step up and introduce James to Grace, she really hadn't even put Kingsley Shacklebolt on the list. While she knew that his uncle was a big player in the Wizengamont, she also knew that Kingsley had no wish to insert himself into politics the same way. So the fact that he stepped up and cleared his throat surprised her to no end. Maybe the man cared more for tradition than he had let on?

"Heir Grace Lily Potter, this is Lord James Potter." There was a pause that she supposed was to be heavy but fell flat in the face of _shealreadyknewthatthankssomuch_. "Your father."

Grace blinked.

Grace nodded like it all made sense to her.

Grace snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, ok. Great joke guys. So who is this really? Fred? George?" She honestly didn't know how these people, these adults, were stupid enough to think that she'd just believe them when they told her something so fucking blatantly outrageous.

Hadn't they met her before? Besides that, they hadn't even given her any evidence that this man was actually her father. Sure she already knew the truth, but that was only because James had approached her before and made her aware of his time travelling hi-jinks. Since she wasn’t supposed to know about him and apparently every adult in the room was stupid beyond belief, she simply chose to exploit their very flawed thinking. When had she just ever blindly believed them? Ever?

Looking around she saw how most people had become uncomfortable. Partly, she assumed, because she had ignored the formal introductions and partly because she didn't believe them, putting them all in what she assumed was an awkward position of trying to convince her of James' true identity. Knowing how stubborn she was, she wished them luck.

"Ms. Potter, that really is your father." Professor McGonagall stated, slicing through the twitchy atmosphere and getting straight to the point.

Grace was about to answer (in the negative again because she wasn't an idiot and she needed to keep up the ruse) when the door opened once again and Snape glided into the room. It was the first time she had seen him in person since 'the great reveal'. Grace was sure he hadn't changed since she had seen him last, but she knew that she had.

_Everything_ had changed for her.

Watching him move around, watching him watch the rest of the Order and silently get his bearings made her long for something she couldn't quite name. This was Snape. _Her father_. The person who was supposed to have raised her, was supposed to love her, but apparently hated her. A living family member who didn't even know she existed and hated everything he did know.

Was it all James' fault? Would this caustic man really have loved her as a father should? Or would he have hated her existence as much as the Dursley's had? Had she been better off with them rather than face the hurt the knowing would cause? Would he still hate her if she told him the truth?

Grace wasn't lost enough in her ruminations to miss the way his eyes went from Remus, to her, and finally to James. His face contorted in rage, sneering in a way that was sharper and crueller than any he had ever given Sirius, and it was like lightning went off in her brain, gathering every emotion of hurt and pain and striking it straight into her heart. Her breath hitched and she clutched tighter to Remus. There were sobs coming out of her mouth and tears streaming down her face before she could even think of stopping them. This wasn't right, this wasn't how this was supposed to go, she wasn't prepared to be feeling any of this.

Everything she had been dealing with for the past few weeks, the inheritance test, the letters, the new responsibilities, learning protocol and politics, learning that the man she had believed was her father wasn't and the man who hated her was. The Dursley's, the beatings, the loneliness, the lifeline James had given her, the feelings she shouldn't be feeling to a man who was her father, who wanted to be her father, all of it came crashing down on her. The apathy she had been living with since Sirius died (since she _killed_ him) was washed away in one brutal tug and now she was drowning in _hurt_ and _pain_.

She felt like she was loosing control, felt like the world was spinning off coarse and she was the only sane person left. Her legs gave out, only for Moony to hold on to her tighter, pressing her more firmly into his arms as she practically collapsed. She heard shouts of surprise, cries of alarm, and then...

...Nothing.

\----****----

When Grace opened her eyes again she saw a dark and cobwebbed ceiling that made her wince. Her head was pounding and her throat was dry enough to hurt, not to mention how tired she was despite having just woken. Why had she woken up? And what the bloody hell was she doing on the couch in the living room?

Her perplexed thoughts were interrupted by low laughter, her eyes searching for the source of the sound before finding an amused James watching her carefully.

"Hello darling."

"Oh fuck. You're real." She moaned in despair, wondering when her life had become a soap opera.

If she was lucky enough, she'd have a twin sister who was actually the Girl-Who-Lived and take over this whole idiotic business for her. She’d happily, and without another thought, walk away from the whole thing.

He looked positively affronted. "Why wouldn't I be real?"

"Most good things aren't in my life." She had no idea men could preen, but James Potter _preened_.

She didn't have the energy in that moment to tell him she didn't mean it like that. She rather hoped that it had all been a lovely figment of her imagination and her life still centred around Voldemort killing her instead of the mess it had currently become. To think she actually longed for the days where her only problem was that Voldemort was trying to kill her.

"I told you I'd come for you. I told you I'd find you." He said in a low voice, meant to carry to only her ears despite them being alone. "I'm here my Gracie, and you're mine."

"How?" Grace asked, the one question that had sparked more interest in her than anything else.

How had he done it? She didn't need to know the whole truth yet, the things he mentioned in his letter being one of the many, but she did need to know how he had managed to jump through time without anyone knowing he wasn't dead. Wait, did he die? Hadn't there been a body? If there hadn't been a body there would have been questions, wouldn't there?

As if she asked this out loud, James answered her. "Not long after Dumbledore told us about the prophecy, I started looking for ways to stay with you, ways to keep you protected. I found a spell that would allow me, moments before death, to jump through time. When I landed here, for me, I had just watched Voldemort 'kill me' in order to go after your mother, to go after you. I'm not quite sure what the spell left behind but I presume it was a Gollum. It would have had no life and been a replica of me."

"A Gollum?" Grace asked dubiously, manoeuvring herself in a sitting position so she could observe him better. "So you're guessing." She stated.

James laughed, helping her up before sitting next to her. "Of course I am. Without looking at the actual remnants of my 'body' I have no idea what the spell left behind."

"So it was the spell?" She pressed, wondering what kind of magic he had used, what kind of power he had at his disposal to twist time itself to his whims.

"The spell was-_is_ designed to keep the timeline. Life passed as it was meant to and to ensure no rifts in the timeline, something had to be left behind to close that particular door."

Grace frowned in thought. "So what you're saying is that the 'James timeline' had to have an ending so that you could come here?"

"Essentially." He agreed with a nod, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze.

"But that doesn't make sense. That would mean that every time you use a time turner you erase the past you so the future you can keep living." She reasoned, looking at their clasped hands with a frown on her face.

His hand was warm, steady, engulfed her hand and made her feel safe. Was she supposed to be feeling all of that from a hand holding hers?

"My perfect little Gracie. How long I've had to wait for you." James said as he lifted her face to smile at her, a fierce pride in his eyes. "Time turners have different rules. There is a limited time period for you to jump back to, or I suppose, jump forward to but I daresay that that's not the purpose of the ministry time turners. This spell was designed to leap years into the future, something a time turner doesn't allow. In order for that to happen, there could be no question of what happened to me. I essentially jumped from you being a baby to you being a young lady." Grace raised her eyebrows. James snorted. "Alright, I jumped from Voldemort's very present attack to standing in a monument of my home. Does that satisfy you, my Lady?" He asked with an exaggerated hand bow, amusement colouring his words.

Grace huffed softly, mirth clearly in the sound, just as Remus opened the door and walked into the room. He was holding a glass of water and his body went slack in relief at seeing her sitting up and awake, leaving her no room to argue with his explanation.

"I'm so sorry cub." He said as he walked over to her, making James drop her hand and move from her side in order for him to examine her.

He handed her the glass after a quick magical inspection and sat down next to her, making James shift further away from her while Remus wrapped her up tightly in his arms.

"I thought Dumbledore would at least give you the courtesy of a warning. Give you some time to prepare. James showed up whole and healthy just a few weeks ago and we had to make sure it really was him before we could tell you anything. I'm so sorry, I never meant for you to be hurt by any of this." Remus stated softly as he pulled away, worry and guilt written across his face.

Grace smiled softly as she snuggled into his side. "Don't worry about it Remus, it really isn't your fault. Besides, it wasn't like I would have believed you either." She joked, trying to ease his fears.

"We don't have a lot of time." Remus said regretfully after searching her face for the truth as he ignored her attempt at humour. "The Order members are coming up the stairs. I believe Ronald was in the room when you woke and went to tell Albus."

"Why would they do that? Was my fainting that impressive?" Grace asked in confusion.

She knew she was the Girl-Who-Lived, but that was a little much wasn't it? Was she always going to be gawked at for simply existing?

"Luckily for you, they're more interested in James." Remus informed her with a knowing look.

He urged her to drink some water so she took a sip. The cool water sliding down her throat felt like ecstasy. She felt it running through her body, felt it revive her insides. Had it been that long since she had had a drink?

"James? Why James?" Grace asked in baffled confusion, mostly for the question itself but also to ignore some hard truths she intended to never confront.

The man himself smirked dangerously as he stood up to sit back down on her other side. "Because I have not told them a single thing about how I came to be here. Well," he amended a short second later, "I gave them the bare bones so Albus wouldn't kill me on the spot."

"And they just accepted that?" Grace asked, the doubt clearly heard in her voice by the way Remus and James chuckled.

"Of course not. They've been demanding his story ever since. He's been refusing until he saw you." Remus told her, taking her empty glass and setting it down on the table.

Understanding dawned on her. "You git." She said accusingly as she turned to James. "No wonder Professor Dumbledore just showed up out of nowhere!"

“It's hardly my fault." James defended, looking only slightly put out by her accusing tone.

"It's completely your fault! The _least_ anyone could have done was given me a heads-up! Totally explains why practically the whole Order shuffled into the damn room. I thought they just wanted to meet me again. Turns out they wanted your story."

Remus pulled her in close as he rubbed her arm in consolation. "I wouldn't worry about it too much cub, James has already taught them what a handful he can be when he doesn't get what he wants."

Grace took a moment to think about it. "Super soakers?"

"He's been a right menace." Arthur Weasley stated as he walked into the room. "Hello Grace, it's nice to see you again."

"Hi Mr. Weasley. So what did he do?" Grace greeted with a genuine smile.

She had always like the older man because he had tried to tell her the truth without outright defying Dumbledore. Which made her question why he would try and warn her at all since he hadn't actually told her all that much and he hadn't actually gone against Dumbledore in any way.

"He's been giving Fred and George some hands on advice for their joke shop." Arthur said with a stern look at James, who in turn just smiled smugly.

"They didn't need the help." James replied honestly as more members wandered into the room. "But I didn't mind imparting some of the things I never did get a chance to try out when I was still in school."

"Yikes." Grace uttered before looking at Mr. Weasley. "Are they grounded?"

Ginny snorted loudly, startling Grace who hadn't noticed that she had walked in. "Can you ground someone who doesn't live with you and owns their own business?"

"Erm." Grace voiced, not sure how to answer that because she had never had parents. Rather, she never had people who cared enough to punish her. "Yes?"

Arthur chuckled. "We are still their parents, but it's also business related. I won't ground them but I can restrict how they test their products, especially while they still visit Order headquarters."

"They only come to visit because Ja-Mr-Lord Potter is here." Ginny stumbled out, looking from her father to James to make sure she got it right. "I think I like being a blood traitor. Stupid protocols." She mumbled softly enough that only Grace heard after getting a nod of approval from her father. Grace shot the other girl a knowing grin who returned it and relaxed.

"So where are they now? I doubt they would've missed all this." Grace said with a sweep of her hand indicating the gathered audience.

She tried not to be bothered by all the sudden attention since it wasn't actually directed at her, but it was hard to remember and even harder to stomach.

"They didn't know you'd show up today." Ron announced, coming to stand next to the couch Grace had been laying on, Hermione hesitantly by his side. "I recon they'll be here for dinner though, unless they get lost in research and testing."

James took that moment to pull her away from Remus and tuck her in by his side, giving her a wide, happy smile that looked like trouble despite it's friendly demeanour. With Remus sitting on one side of her and James on the other, she felt well and truly surrounded. For someone who had been craving contact in any form, this was heaven. What would have been nicer was having this without the entire Order there to look and judge.

"So how did you end up here?" Grace asked innocently enough that only James turned to her, raising an eyebrow while his eyes glinted knowingly.

"It's quite the story." James replied, hugging her closer to him before he delved into his tale.

She found herself bemused while watching the man she had thought was her father try and explain how he ended up here, probably not even for the first time. There was plenty he seemed to not tell their audience which made her think that he was putting on a show for the gathered crowd. Which he was of course, and despite knowing that she was very much being pulled into his tale. Despite his very questionable behaviour so far, storytelling was not one of them. He knew how to play a crowd and the room was riveted. It was just too bad that he was lying to them all.

James had confessed to being beyond angry that he hadn't been allowed to see his daughter sooner, but had understood on some level that they did have to confirm it was him. She tried not to snort at that since he had already seen her and she would eat the giant squid if he had 'just' shown up here two weeks ago. On the other hand, that did make her wonder exactly how long he had been here and why he had chosen now to reveal himself.

She wasn't about to tell the whole order the truth in her curiosity though. She wasn't completely sure of his motives yet other than keeping her safe. She also didn't miss the looks he shot Remus as she snuggled into the wolf's heat, having returned to Remus when James had become more animated with his story telling. There was a lot to talk about, it seemed, and she was both looking forward to it and dreading it but she needed the truth so she was determined to suffer through it.

The fact that she was practically sitting in Remus' lap, leeching his heat, seemed to calm both James and Remus down from the acidic glares Ron kept throwing Remus and James. It was something the whole room had caught on to pretty early, probably helped by the occasional scoff or irritated noise that Ron refused to hide. It was rather uncomfortable and most of the room, including her, had decided to ignore it. She didn't really want to know what his problem was, but figured she'd hear about it soon enough since he never could leave his irritation unvoiced.

"So you basically jumped time and no one can figure out how you did it and nobody knows how to get you back to your own time? That about it?" She summarized, after James finally stopped talking long enough for her to say something.

Remus chuckled lowly and James smirked at her while the room waited for his answer. It seemed like he really had refused to tell them even a single thing, which only made her more curious as to what he had told Dumbledore in order for them to get here. She seriously doubted that James would have been allowed in the same room as her if Dumbledore hadn’t been certain of her safety.

"That seems to be the bottom line, yes." James replied, laying a hand on her knee.

"Why would they want to send you back anyway?" Grace asked in confusion, looking around the room and noticing more of the Order members had come in to hear James' story. "Wouldn't that have been dangerous?"

"Time travellers usually do not fair well in a new time, Ms. Potter." McGonagall told her, looking fondly at James.

Grace wondered if McGonagall ever had favourites or if this was a reaction to seeing a dead man. A not-dead man. A man who should be dead but wasn't so he was suddenly a favourite simply because he wasn't dead. Oi.

"But you would be sending him back to die!" Grace returned, a bit upset that these people seemed to have no difficulty in sending a man to his death.

A man who was on their side, who had defied Voldemort himself three times and had then died. Died! Well. Technically died because he had jumped through time so...almost died.

"He could interfere with time itself." Kingsley point out. Aurors were helpful like that.

"If he was coming from the future, maybe." Hermione jumped in, clearly as confused as she was. "But he came from the past. Not only that, but he came back just two weeks ago and so hasn't changed our past. If he is here, now, how could he change something that clearly hasn't changed?" She reasoned.

Several people nodded at her logic while others frowned in disapproval. She was still too young to make a difference and Grace wagered that her blood status, even here, played a hefty part in their judgement of her.

"The point of time travel is that we wouldn't know what, if anything, changed." Kingsley argued back.

"But then the point would be moot again since sending him back wouldn't fix what has been changed. This is our new reality, no matter what we would decide his fate would be. By him being here, regardless of him going back to the past, has already altered our lives."

"Well reasoned, but it's not up to a single person to make that decision for an entire people." Professor McGonagall said, clearly enjoying the discussion.

"Dumbledore had to make sure that his appearance didn't have any adverse reactions." Diggle interrupted with a clipped tone.

Grace raised her eyebrows. "Like me having a father?" She asked flatly.

Several members shifted their eyes away from her in embarrassment. James chuckled and looked at her with fond eyes.

"That's my girl." He said, a smile on his face but his eyes were filled with something that startled her.

There was that look again, a dark possessiveness that claimed her. Had she been right after all? Did James really have designs on her in _that_ way? Why did it make her magic happy? Why did it fill her with warmth? Why did she even want to see it at all?

"Prat." Ron mumbled under his breath, allowing Grace to break eye contact with James and have a little breathing room.

Unfortunately for Ron, he said it in a moment there was no sound and thus was heard by everyone in the room. Hermione rolled her eyes at him and Grace frowned at his open hostility, but Remus and James shared a sharp smile as James transferred her back to Remus’ side, the arms around her waist tightening in a gentle greeting. Having not been prepared for that, she drew in a sharp breath and closed her eyes while resting her head on Remus' chest.

While it was her favourite way of sitting with Remus (she really wasn't ever warm enough compared to him) his comforting gestures made her ribs throb just a little harder than they already were. Remus, having no doubt smelled her pain, shifted her a little and loosened his hold. It was only too bad that Moony decided to vocalize his displeasure. Sensing a brewing confrontation, the Order members quickly found other activities to occupy them and left Grace alone with James, Remus, Hermione, and Ron. It almost made her laugh, the way adults shied away from teenage drama.

"James, your Gracie needs some medical help." Moony said under his breath, feeling the way Grace stiffened in his arms.

"Moony." She threatened. She didn't like having her secrets out in the open like that.

He may have loose suspicions on exactly how she keeps getting injured each summer but unless she said anything, it would remain a suspicion. She peaked up at James and saw the dark scowl on his face. She sighed deeply and closed her eyes again, not willing to engage in any kind of conversation that wasn’t any of their business.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Hermione asked softly.

If there was one person who could cut through the tension easily, it was Hermione. She may be very angry with the other girl, but right now she was better than the threat of having to explain exactly why she had broken ribs. She could, of course, tell them honestly that muggles couldn’t do anything with them it they were only fractured and not outright snapped off and hanging about in your body. Which, wow, that was an image she’d rather not dwell on.

"Yeah, could you get the kit for me?" Grace asked her. Hermione nodded and ran out of the room, leaving her with two agitated men and a very pissed of boy. Speaking of which. "Why are you so angry? You can't get angry at me for being angry at you. You were in the wrong and you know it!" She told Ron, more than a little annoyed.

He looked at the arm around her waist and only grunted at her and glaring fiercely at James, before crossing his arms and looking away. She looked at him perplexed. What the Merlin was going on with him?

James seemed to think this was hilarious as he smiled brightly while he shifted closer to Moony. Ever so gently, he tugged her out of Remus’ hold and settled her in his lap. She whined pathetically at the loss of Moony's heat, but settled down easily enough when James rubbed soothing circles on her back. Since her head was tucked under his, she missed the look he sent Ron. Ron, in turn, glared back harder and stormed out of the room, nearly hitting Hermione with the door when she tried to walk back into the room.

"What happened to Ron?" Hermione asked confused. She turned to look at Grace and noticed where and how she was seated and a small 'oohh' of understanding left her mouth.

Grace, who was now more confused than ever sighed, in irritation. "Mind letting me in on the big secret?" She asked.

Hermione looked up from rummaging around in the potions kit and gave her an amused smile.

"You mean to tell me you have no idea that Ron has the biggest crush on you?" Hermione asked, handing her bruise paste and skele-grow.

Those two where the usual potions she needed after a summer stay with the Dursley’s so it wasn't a big leap that that was what she needed now as well. The thing she loved most about Hermione was that the girl was convinced she was simply accident-prone. After five years of danger and adventure, Hermione was positive she spent her time in the muggle world running around and getting into trouble. It simply never occurred to her that she might not be living in a happy home, despite the frequent requests for food. The ignorance did save her a lot of questions and promptings to tell someone though.

"Anything else?" Hermione asked after handing over the required potions.

"No, this is all I need right now." She didn't mind admitting that with Remus and James in the room. Mostly because she knew Remus already knew of her injuries and it would be hard to keep it from James, what with Remus having just announced it to the bloody room and all. "And Ron doesn't have a crush on me, he likes you." Grace added as she downed the skele-grow.

Better now than later, she reasoned as she gagged on the taste. James handed her a glass of water that she gratefully took. She blinked up at his amused smile only to turn to the other two in the room and receive the same look.

"What?" She asked defensively, resting her head back on James' shoulder, soaking up the contact.

"Grace, Ron's been in love with you since second year. It's only grown since then. He's got the mad idea that you two are meant to be. And he doesn't like me like that since he can't stand my 'know-it-all' attitude." Hermione told her patiently.

Grace snorted in disbelief. "But that makes no sense. He can't be in love with me. He's practically like a brother."

Remus laughed loudly and Hermione winced. "Christ, best not tell him that just yet, if you don’t mind?" She asked, rubbing a hand on her neck and looking distinctly uncomfortable. "I really don't want to be in the middle of that."

"Is that why he got angry? Because he's in love with me?" This time James laughed, and Grace tilted her head just to catch a little more of the deep sound.

"No darling, he was angry because you let Remus and I hold you. He was angry because I laid claim to you." James told her, eyes boring into hers.

Her brow furrowed, very much aware of her audience. "He does realize that you're my father right?" He wasn't, but Ron didn't know that which made the whole thing even more sordid than it needed to be.

Remus smiled at her innocence. "He's a new male vying for your attention. If you had grown up with James around he wouldn't have cared, but James only came back into your life today and he's quite a good looking man." Remus explained to her.

James pretended to be flattered. "Remus, you old flirt! I had no idea you fancied me!" Remus snorted and rolled his eyes.

"But he's my father. My _dad_. Does he really think I'll jump my father?" Grace asked absolutely stunned.

Hermione looked a little green at the suggestion but shrugged, having no answer to that. Boys, her shrug seemed to say. Grace rolled her eyes in return.

"The rest of the Weasley’s will want to see you." Hermione said, changing the subject as she packed up the kit. "I'll tell them you guys are coming down, shall I?"

Grace smiled and nodded, getting up and stretching her legs a little. She had no idea how much time had passed since the Order had left them alone, but she was sure it had been far longer than the usual amount. Most of the time someone would have found her by now, either to see if she was alright or to get her to help with some sort of cleaning activity.

"Did you do something to the room?" She asked Remus suspiciously after Hermione left, wondering why Mrs Weasley hadn’t dragged her away to be fed yet.

He smirked at her and nodded. "Once I knew you were awake, I wanted to give you some time to deal with seeing James. Molly, as well as she intends, wouldn't have given you what you needed."

“So you, what? Locked her in the kitchen?” Grace asked, a little incredulous that he would go that far.

Remus laughed at her shock. “Not at all, I may have turned up the heat on all the burners and caused a few dishes to burn.”

"Sneaky wolf.” She stated fondly before she frowned at him in thought. “So you know he's not my father." Grace prompted as James stood up and slid behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in tight.

Almost like it was instinct she melted into the touch. Theoretically she knew she was touch starved and having someone touch her as often as James and Remus were doing currently was something she desperately needed. Before, she had used Sirius for that, with bouts of Remus when he was around last summer.

Mentally she was screaming at herself for falling into their touches so easily, waiting for the moment either of them didn't want to touch her anymore, didn't want her around. She knew she would handle herself when that moment happened, but she was still afraid to indulge herself because she wasn’t sure she could handle nothing after having so much. Not to mention the fact that she was allowing her long dead not-father to lay a claim on her. He had, in his own way, already done so in front of Ron and she had no doubt he would do so in front of the Order as well and wasn’t particularly looking forward to that explosion in the making.

Remus hummed an affirmative. "I know he's not your father. You never quite smelled like him and Lily. It only clicked for me when I taught you in your third year. You smelled a little of Snape."

Grace flinched at that and one of James' hands slipped under her sweater and rubbed her stomach in a soothing motion. She froze, the feeling of his hand on her naked flesh was as intoxicating as it was frightening. This wasn’t just a friendly touch, this wasn’t even a fatherly gesture that she could believe. This was claiming, this was a truth she both shied away from and wanted desperately.

Remus was suddenly in front of her, looking concerned and a little amused. "Little one, I never meant that you smelled, or that you smelled like Snape. Your smell is uniquely your own." He told her before leaning into the crook of her neck and sniffing deeply, misinterpreting her shock.

Her body relaxed at the familiar scenting of the wolf and leaned further back into James, who now simply held her close with his hand pressing heavily on her stomach, splaying his fingers over her abdomen in a proprietary manner that called to mind safety and possession.

"I only meant that Moony could identify the scents of your parents. I wasn't too sure of his certainty and I didn't want to ruin your life with a possibility that I might have been wrong." He gave her neck a long swipe with his tongue, Moony's version of an apology and scenting all rolled into one. If another wolf had been anywhere near her she would now smell like Remus.

James, on the other hand, was nuzzling her temple and humming softly, keeping her relaxed and pliable. There were butterflies flying wildly in her stomach and she didn't know if it was because of the attention she was receiving or because her latent hormones were finally jump-starting. Being somewhat attracted to Remus was one thing (something she knew she shouldn't be seeing as he was practically an uncle) but being attracted to the man who was supposed to be your father? That screamed too closely of incest and she really didn't want to unwrap that complicated package. So instead she dealt with it the way she would anything. Denial. It was clearly being touch starved.

"Do you mind it?" She asked Remus unsurely, not quite able to meet his gaze. "That my real father is Snape?"

"Oh cub. What have they done to you?" He asked her gently, cupping her face and giving her a light kiss on her forehead. "I've loved you from the moment you were born." He told her, kissing her nose. "I've loved you, not your parents." He lightly kissed her lips.

It shocked her a little, the feeling of his soft lips over hers, but the wolf craved closeness as much as she did so she figured this was simply another aspect of Moony and not an overture of something more. She had enough to deal with already, what with James’ appearance and all.

"Hey!" James cried indignantly. "Moony, you know you love me!" Remus chuckled and lightly pushed James, seeing as Grace was still in his arms.

"So how long have you been here really?" She asked James as they steered her towards the couch again, letting herself be tucked between the two men.

James smirked at her. "That's a question I'm not going to answer at this point in time."

Grace narrowed her eyes. "Because I won't like the answer or because knowing the answer implicates you in something else?"

James' smirk widened. "Both, clever girl."

She snorted and rolled her eyes before turning to Remus. "How long have you known?"

"A while." Remus said, a hand snaking up her back to rest on her neck. Holding. Safe.

"Which is?" She asked, knowing they were playing with her when Remus' eyes flickered to James' before looking back at her.

"A while longer than he's indicated." He told her lightly, laughter in his voice.

"Remus." She growled, fed up with their games. She deserved answers and she was going to get them, one way or another.

"About two months." He said, laughing softly at her attempted growl.

She frowned at his answer. James had been right, it wasn't so much the amount of time he had been here (which was still a problem because she could have been with him all this time if he had only come forward sooner) but what he had done in those weeks leading up to exposing himself to the Order. What _had_ he done? Where had he gone? Why didn't he tell anyone?

Besides all of that though, James was _lying_. It was hard to spot because he had told her the truth, well Remus had. Remus had known about James’ renewed existence for two months (a betrayal she would think about later) but that hadn't meant that James had been here for two months. Also something she wasn't comfortable asking with Remus in the room. How much could she -_should she_\- hide?

"You're planning something." Grace stated, turning to look at James. James tilted his head and let her think it out. "You sent me those notes, the letters." She clarified for herself, putting his actions on a loop in her mind. "Me, that's obvious. You're planning something to do with me, but you told me to trust Voldemort so you're planning something with Voldemort and me. Is he in your way?" She asked, looking back at him again.

Was this her way of testing how honest he had been? Yes. While she generally couldn’t care less about lying, it seemed obvious to her that James had pulled Remus into whatever harebrained scheme he was thinking up. If James was someone she could trust (especially when Voldemort was involved) then he would have told Remus everything he had told her. Not because Grace would need someone to talk to, but because Remus was his friend. Having Remus at least confirm the things she had been told by James meant that he was being honest in his own way. She supposed it was up to her to figure out how he was lying and to what degree.

James was looking at her with a hungry look she was almost frightened of. "My very clever girl." He said lowly. "Yes, Voldemort is in my way but I'm not without my charms."

Grace hesitated with her next question, not wanting to know yet but scared not to. "If you've been here longer than the Order knows and you've already met with Voldemort about me...are you on his side now? Is that what this is all about? Are you trying to recruit me?"

James and Remus laughed, delighted in her question which only made her frown. The question hadn't been that crazy, thank you very much.

"I'm not on any side just yet darling girl." James said finally, giving her a soft smile and brushing his fingers across her cheek. "I've got my own plans for the moment and I've...had a few conversations with Voldemort so he could see my point of view. He won't harm you anymore." He said gently.

Grace frowned at him. "That's just ridiculous. The guy's insane. He's tried to kill me four times already and no offense to your mental state of being wrong, but I'm not about to trust that the man who's always been ready to murder me has suddenly just given up just because you had a few conversations with him."

Remus squeezed her neck in gentle support. "Just listen cub. We don't expect you to believe right now but we do expect to respect our agreement of no harm."

"What does that mean?" Grace almost shouted in frustration.

"It means that while the Dark Lord has put you on the neutral 'don't touch' list, he expects the same from you." Remus said gently, probably smelling her frustration in the air.

"If they go about attacking me I think it's only fair that I defend myself!" She declared passionately, daring them to argue with her.

She wasn't about to just on the sidelines when Voldemort and his Death Eaters were still so very clearly after her. They were always bloody after her. Not to mention that she would defend her friends or those in clear danger. If she could help, why wouldn't she?

"I never said you couldn't defend yourself against the Death Eaters, merely Voldemort. You don't try to kill him, he doesn't try to kill you."

Grace sat back with a huff, not nearly happy with the not-explanation she was getting. "And how did you manage that? He's tried to kill me so many times I thought it was a hobby."

"Please stop reminding us of his several attempts on your life." Remus growled, his hand going from comfort to possessive. She wiggled her way deeper into his side and sighed contentedly when the hand left her neck to snake across her waist and haul her closer.

"I told you I had my charms." James said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Grace snorted without looking his way. "The bad luck kind? Because I'm almost positive I've been cursed with the worst luck and I place all of the blame for that at your feet."

"My feet?! I'm positively offended!" James cried out in mock outrage.

She grunted, a small smile on her lips. "You look it too."

He glared at her, but his twitching lips told her enough. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, letting the past few hours play through her mind as she sorted out events that went by far too quickly.

"Remus? Mind if I have some time with my girl? I think she has some questions for me." James asked, his eyes firmly on Grace.

Remus looked to Grace, his eyes darting over her face before giving her a small smile. "Of course. I'll distract Molly for a while longer. Don't be too long though, Snape and Dumbledore are still here." He warned them both.

"Wait, Professor Dumbledore is still here? Why didn't he come in while James told his story? Why didn't Snape?" Grace asked in confusion, though she had a pretty good idea why Snape would refuse to stay in any room that housed James Potter.

"Probably because one hates his guts and the other has more important business." Remus stated blandly before leaving the room, laughing lowly at the way Grace spluttered.

The nerve of him!

"Albus already knows my story and Snape wouldn't listen to me if I paid him to." James said with a laugh as he flicked his wand once Remus had shut the door. "Privacy ward." He said at Grace's confused look.

"Oh." She replied with a nod. That made sense. She wouldn't want anyone to hear the conversation, not with what she wanted to know. "So." She said after a slight pause. "Privet Drive?"

He only grinned at her. "I hear it's lovely this time of year."

"Hm. I heard it has great supermarkets." She parried back, her eyebrows raised in evident disbelief.

"Does it now?" James asked with a sly smile. It was his eyes though, that caught her. They watched her every move with a hungry intensity that made her a little uneasy.

"I hate you." She replied mulishly, trying to break the tension.

He laughed, the sound making Grace catch her breath as she looked at him. "I'll change your mind."

"So you just visited?" She prompted again when it seemed like he wouldn’t continue.

"I wanted to see you before you became swallowed up by all of this." James said, his eyes roaming around the room before settling back on her.

"You did more than see me." Grace pointed out, wanting to know the real reason he had been there and not the half answers he was giving her.

"I had to make sure you were safe, that you were cared for." He said softly, raising his hand and placing it on her cheek, his thumb stroking her as he held her in place.

And that ventured into some dangerous territory for Grace. Under no circumstances was she _ever_ going to admit to or answer any questions that pertained to the Dursley's. If James was as observant as she suspected, then he would have seen far more than she was comfortable with, probably even knew what was going on already. She wasn't going to admit to anything, not to him and not to anyone else for that matter. It wasn't his business and she had it handled.

"I have some questions." She asked instead, offering up a distraction.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't." James answered, dropping his hand and giving her his full attention again.

"What did you really do to mum? And Snape? How can he not remember that he’s my father? Surely he should have at least an inkling? Why are you even here? What do you want? Voldemort? Really? And what was your real role in the last war? Because I seriously doubt all the stories I've been told if you're here now telling me that Voldemort is going to leave me alone on your say-so." Grace blurted out.

They were all things that had been on her mind for quite some time now. Answers to questions she would never have gotten otherwise. Why _did_ Snape not remember her? Why did he seem so convinced that James was her father when James himself had made it seem like Snape and her mum had been more than aware of the dubious nature of her parentage? Which naturally ventured into wondering why on earth he would obliviate her mum!

James looked a little stunned at the torrent of questions aimed his way. "Those are a lot of questions to answer in one night."

"I don't care how much time it takes, you owe me that much." Grace said, feeling like he owed her a lot more than just answers to her questions.

"There's a lot more to it than you know." He warned her.

"There always is. I think the most important question is how long have you really been here? And don't think for a second I believed the lie you told Remus." She added sternly.

James' smile started low and grew in intensity the longer the silence stretched. "You clever, perfect girl." He murmured as he stared at her.

"Clearly that answers the question." She said as she shifted uncomfortably, once again wavering between wanting and making sure the doors Sirius had opened were still shut tight.

James tapped his finger against his leg in thought as he searched her face. "I'm not sure now is the time to divulge that information." He said finally, cautiously.

"Why not?" She asked, a little indigently.

He was the one who said they needed some space to clear the air and now he didn't want to talk to her? There were questions she needed answers to, things only he could tell her. How was she to know who to trust if he wouldn’t even attempt to indulge her curiosity? Maybe she had given him too much leeway already.

"Because you're looking for something to hold against me." James told her, a shrewd look on his face as he watched her frown.

Well. He wasn't wrong. She didn't want to like him, didn't want him to be there for her, didn't want the responsibility of his life in her hands in a war that she was at the forefront of. Most of all, she didn't want to deal with what his presence brought, the changes that had already started since she had gotten that first letter. His being here, in her time and in a place where he could make actual changes in her life terrified her. She had never had anyone to rely on, never had someone to look out for her and it had taught her a fair amount of resilience and self-reliance. Now a stranger was waltzing into her life and declaring that he would take all of her burdens off her shoulders.

She didn’t want that in the same breath that she did. She did want help but she also refused to hand it off. She had grown up with it, was used to the weight and resented this man for coming into her life now and demanding she get used to it not being there anymore when it was still her responsibility. She wasn’t a child, hadn’t been one for a long time, and was starting to feel bitter by the implications that she would simply give in. That she _needed_ someone.

She _wanted_ someone. Someone capable who would stand by her side and help her, not stand in front of her and demand she sit on the sidelines. It just wasn’t the person they raised. It wasn’t what they had built her up to be. Wasn’t something she was even capable of doing anymore. James Potter did not get to walk into her life and demand things from a woman he didn’t know.

"There's a lot to hold against you already." Grace said after a short silence.

"Is there?" He asked amused. "Indulge me."

"Mum? Obliviating her? Ring a bell? Besides that, how on earth did you think it would be a good idea to keep me after all that?" Grace asked again, voicing things that had been high on her list of worries. “Did you intend to raise your own bride?”

James smirked at her, leaning into her space. "I think the real question you want to be asking me is what my intentions are towards you."

She frowned heavily, another answer he was refusing by dangling a bigger question in her face. She now understood why people had been taken by James, and she was less than impressed with his methods.

"And?" Grace asked, knowing that an answer to anything at this point was more than she’d have previously.

"I already told you darling, you’re mine. You don't know me as your father and we are not related." He stated lowly, watching her with a hunger she craved as much as she denied.

"I've spent a fair few years very much aware of you as my father." She countered, aware of how close they were sitting, of how much heat he radiated.

He hummed in acknowledgement. "Abstractly, perhaps. But right now I'm flesh and blood. Reality does nothing to vague dreams of a person who never existed in your life."

"So you want me?" She asked, changing tacks again and hoping he would explain more than with a vague answer.

"I already have you." He countered. Seeing her about to give him an angry retort he continued. "You are a Potter, have always been a Potter and I intend to have it stay that way."

"Meaning what exactly?" She asked sharply, memories of Cedric intruding her thoughts, knowledge of what James did to her own mum hovering over their conversation.

"I'm going to Court you Grace." He stated seriously, pulling her closer and wrapping his arm around her.

Grace sucked in a breath of shocked air. That was most definitely not what she had expected. Courting was serious, Courting was intention and commitment and ritual. Courting was a public statement that indicated a wizards regard for his betrothed.

"That's...that's a lot to take in." She stated weakly, suddenly feeling as if there wasn't enough air in the room.

All this time she had wondered, concerned that she was crazy for wanting, for seeing something that obviously wasn't there, yet here he was telling her she wasn't crazy at all. That he had meant the words and actions the way she had taken them. What was she supposed to do with that? It was confusing enough to want a man who she believed was her father for the majority of her life, but now she had to combat that knowledge against his very blatant interest while also having to deal with her feelings for Sirius. How was she supposed to work through all of that? Did she even know if her feelings were real or if they were a product of some sort of transference after Sirius had been murdered? How was she supposed to be ok with wanting that? The whole world still thought he was her father. This was a mess. Did she have to decide now?

"Don't worry darling, we have all the time in the world. I'm not going to hide anything from you, I won't be playing any games, and I refuse to hide what you are to me. I won't ever have you guessing at my intentions." James told her softly, breaking her spiralling thoughts and rising panic, his arm a warm weight around her.

"Even from the Order?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Dumbledore wouldn’t take kindly to what James was saying and she doubted he would allow James to court her in any way.

James tilted his head while he pondered her question. "I don’t intend to hide it from the Order, perhaps make it less obvious. I would like to give us some time to get to know each other before the rest of the world comes between us."

"And for that to happen you need...what? A distraction? Is that what you’re doing with Voldemort?"

James smiled. "Not in the least. I would like them otherwise occupied while we get to know each other. If they are distracted by more pressing matters as I Court you…" He shrugged carelessly. "What could I possibly do?"

Grace dropped her head on the couch with a loud sigh. What the hell was she supposed to do with all of this? Alright, yes, she had initially very much wanted the connection that James offered, her magic had told her that blatantly enough, but now? Hearing him blurting out his wishes to her so plainly? She wasn't sure she was ready for this, for any of it.

She understood why James wouldn't want the Order involved, even if it had been just about telling them they had no real relation to each other. Besides their instinctive reactions to keep him away from her and place him both under the microscope if they were discovered (and didn't that make it sound clandestine), it also put them both at odds with Dumbledore, which was both dangerous and stupid. So it made sense to not tell people (and that was without the initial outrage and disgust that would follow once they figured out his real intentions towards her).

On the other hand, James hadn’t told her anything remotely new. He hadn’t answered any of her questions and seemed happy enough to leave them for the moment, not something that she was pleased with. Was there a reason for his reluctant or did he just want to string her along? Maybe make her pliable to his will? She was very aware of her position in the upcoming war, knowing she would forever be _Grace The-Girl-Who-Lived Potter_ and anyone with Grace on his or her side had a significant tactical advantage (something she needed to take into account) and James had already told her that he was in communication with the opposing side. The side that wanted her very, very dead. James Potter was too much of an unknown factor in her life.

Trust was earned, and so far he had done nothing other than inform her she wasn’t crazy and he was actually flirting with her. Well, not so much flirting anymore, now it was Courting (and that was another bag of crazy she was going to have to unwrap).

She just didn't know what to do with any of it. It would probably have helped a great deal if she had at least one person to talk to, but right now she didn’t have anyone she could confide for one reason or another.

"Are you going to answer any of my other questions?" She asked, breaking the silence James had let fall so she could think.

James turned to look at her, his gaze rapidly racing over her features. "Not tonight. I think we both need some time to digest today's...today." James huffed out with a laugh.

“Are you ever going to answer them or are you just going to change the subject every time I bring it up?” Grace retorted with a snort. She refused to let him off that easily, not when he was capable of leading her to her death if he wanted to.

He tightened his arm around her and pulled her in closer. “After breakfast tomorrow we can sit down and you can ask me anything that you can think of.” James told her, serious enough for her to back down and allow him a small reprieve.

“I won’t forget.” She warned him.

"What you need right now is food." He said instead of engaging her, side stepping what she knew she could have turned into an argument with the way she was currently feeling.

"Fine, but you get to deal with Mrs Weasley when she starts throwing a fit because you kept me away from food too long. " She said, allowing him to pull her to her feet and guide her out the door.

She loved Mrs Weasley to bits but sometimes she was just a little too much to handle after having spent time with the Dursley’s. Having James step between them would be a nice change and allow her the time she needed to acclimate.

"I think I can handle that." James said with a snort, putting his hand on the small of her back and crowding her.

She should have shaken him off, but the heat of his hand, the steadiness of it, grounded her enough that she could push everything aside for the moment and simply enjoy the company of the few people who were actually happy to see her. That, and protocol was well in his favour at the moment and the Order members that knew and followed the old ways would understand the gesture even though they would misinterpret the meaning.

The problem with growing up with the Dursley’s, she thought as they walked down the stairs to the kitchen, was that she was far too suspicious for her own good. For everything that James had told her, including what he had told their audience earlier, she hadn't quite believed him. Oh, there was plenty of truth splattered around that one would be hard pressed to find the lie, but Grace was an expert at this sort of thing and James Potter was the best liar she had ever seen.

It was clear he hadn't shown up here in the timeline he had given Remus, or the Order for that matter, which meant he had been her far longer than people suspected. There was no other explanation as to why he would be so confident that Voldemort would leave her alone or that Voldemort was suddenly one of the 'good guys'. Something else she didn't believe (hello attempted murder!).

He may not be hiding anything per se, but he most certainly was editing things to his liking and that made her extremely wary. Frankly, she understood it, marvelled at the manipulative nature, and applauded the underhanded honesty, but it made her wonder once more what his actual goals were.

One thing that she could finally make peace with was the fact that James had designs on her. Of the not fatherly kind. While frankly relieved to know it wasn't just her, it was alarming to think that this man had travelled through time just for her. Her wanted her, almost obsessively. And _she liked it_. The question she would have to find an answer to was whether or not she wanted it, wanted him in the same way he wanted her?

Her mental health was going to kill her, she just knew it.

\---******---

The rain crashed onto her, a swell wrapping around her body, tugging closer, entwining, twisting, encased.

Heart racing, sweat dripping slowly down her body, lost to the waves. She arched, wanting, needing, pleading.

Too much, not enough.

Knowing she didn't want, knowing she wouldn't, knowing she _could_.

He hadn't given her anything, hadn't held her trust in his heart and kept it safe. Promises made of empty words, actions that screamed of more while giving just the bare minimum.

He stood in the darkest of night waiting for her. He stood in the shadows that reached out to caress her. She stood in the light as she watched him surround her in darkness.

What did he want? Did he want what Sirius had given her? Would he show her how the dark breathed, how it burned, how it _satisfied_?

She sneered at his offerings. What could he give her that she hadn't been given already? What could he give her that would sooth the loss, the pain, the loneliness?

Would he feed her soul?

Would he sate the need?

Would he sooth the hurt, overpower the fear, chase away the tears?

Longing filled her veins.

Temptation had broken free of its grave, prowled under her skin, tore through her blood and sank into her bones, and still it _hungered_ for more.

She hadn't given in yet. She hadn't surrendered yet.

Soon.

Soon?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was good because I’m not sure I’m too happy with how it turned out. Soo...thoughts?  
And I hope that James comes across at least a little intense because he's only going to get darker from here on out and I'd like to lay down a good foundation.


	5. Drive These Doubts Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where I live I'm posting this on the 25th, but apparently it's still the 24th so I'm early, yay!  
This one is a little dialogue heavy so I'm sorry if that's not your jam.  
I feel I should also probably emphasis that James isn't the good guy here, I 'dark James'-ed him for a reason, so keep that in mind for future chapters :)  
As always: no beta, mistakes will glare at me forever.

The thing that bothered Grace the most about her very being was her distinct duality. A little deep and a lot fancy for early morning pondering, but there you had it. For instance, at this very moment she was safely ensconced in the library, hiding away from everyone in the house because she just needed a little time for herself. That's right, after spending weeks on her own begging for some real human contact, Grace was now trying to get away from all that human contact after just two days. Apparently that was her limit.

Not really surprising given the fact that James, Fred, and George had somehow managed to create a demonic pack between the three of them to become the worst terrors possible. It didn't help that Ron was usually the butt of all of their pranks and it had gotten to the point were it had become more antagonistic than playful. On James' part anyway, since she was sure that while siblings fought, they wouldn't go as far as James was currently going. Ron might see a rival, but James saw a target.

This lead to very loud arguments between Ron and James while Fred and George mysteriously disappeared, and Grace, who usually wasn't even there at the time of the prank, got pulled into the argument to decide who was in the right. Which then led to a very infuriated Mrs Weasley stepping in and telling the whole lot of them off for making so much noise and steered them all firmly into cleaning up the rooms in the house that they hadn't gotten to previously. As spacious as the townhouse was, this one definitely had some sort of expanding magic placed on the house since it certainly shouldn't have had the space it did.

Aside from the cleaning and the general avoiding of the ever growing James and Ron saga, in the two days she had been here she had noticed that Dumbledore was more than a little wary of James, even as infrequently as he came by. It wasn't something overt in the sense that everyone in the room could either feel the tension or see how differently Dumbledore treated James, just that there was a subtle amount of caution he took when he spoke about the looming war when James was part of the conversation. Grace figured he was treating James the same way the adults were treating them: a need to know basis, and none of them thought they needed to know anything.

She had only noticed this because she was used to watching Dumbledore try and avoid her for over a damn year. He wasn’t obvious in his cautiousness but Grace was just observant and if she had been suspicious of James herself (which she was, just not in the same way Dumbledore was) she probably would have kept a fair deal to herself as well. Not that that had stopped Dumbledore from trying to get Grace away from James for a few hours, something to do with getting a new professor, but James had stepped into the room and suddenly she was in the kitchen on her own.

Things around her were moving far too quickly for her to comprehend and, if she was being fair to herself, she just wasn’t all that interested anymore. Ever since she had gone to the bank she had gotten letter after letter from the goblins about her various estates and things she needed to look into, not to mention trying to learn all the things she should have known already but didn’t. She didn’t have time or interest to invest in anything else but the things that were pressing down on her shoulders right now.

She hadn't decided what to do about James yet either. She was slowly building up to a simmering anger though, what with all James’ reluctance to even speak with her about things that were directly related to her and that could possibly affect her future. She was well within her rights to get some answers to what the hell he was doing here and why the hell all of it seemed to be about her. If he didn’t give her some answer soon, she was going to call it quits on the whole thing.

Did that stop her from accepting the frequent casual touches and the hugs? Not in the least, but they did add to her growing confusion. It was one thing to know he respected her in the customary ways, but another entirely to realize he also like to push boundaries and in the same breath he was respecting her he also seemed to disrespect her. Did that mean he was doing it because it was a fun game, like her mother had been, or that he was just a complete little shit and enjoyed testing every boundary that came across his path? Did she personally want this because she wanted what he was offering her or was this a side effect of her magic and Sirius' murder? Was James manipulating her? She needed to know where she stood.

Which of course led her to another thing that presented as more of a pressing issue: her magic. When she had gotten her Lordship, Nagnok had told her that the rings had opened her magic up to its full potential. She hadn't exactly forgotten about it, but it wasn't one of the things that was at the forefront of her thoughts at the time either, what with everything else in her life going to hell. She had allowed it to stay there (on the backburner that is) because while temporarily staying with the Dursley's there was no magic around her other than her own. She also wasn't allowed to use her magic so she had had no idea of what Nagnok could have possibly meant.

Now though, living in a house that was embedded with strong, old magic she finally noticed a difference. She didn't think she was in any way more powerful than she had been, one because she still couldn't do magic and two because she hadn't had come into her magical maturity. She was just more aware of the ambient power around her. She could feel it hum through her bones, could feel the echo of a spell when it was cast in her vicinity, she could feel the power that was housed in different people, like a river, like a gust of wind that gained momentum until it died down to a breeze until it was needed again. It fascinated her to no end and she also had no idea what to either do with it or how to deal with it.

After a bit of research on the subject (the Black library was a godsend, honestly) she had figured out that opening her up to magic's full potential didn't actually mean her own power, merely the potential of her line. The Black line, for example, had a strong metamorphmagus gene. Did that mean she was one? No, she would have known that by now, but she figured that if she ever had any children that they would more than likely have the gene themselves. She had no idea what the Gryffindor line had and would need to research that if she ever had any intention of knowing what to expect.

She could, of course, ask one of the elves to get it for her but with her semi-captive state she knew she was borrowing more trouble than she could handle. It wasn't exactly a pressing matter either so she could leave it alone until she either wanted to know more or until something happened that would make it pressing to know. She figured that her newfound sensitivity to the magic around her was something she always had but never noticed or it was a dormant gene that had been awakened because of the acceptance of her Lordship.

Which led her back to James. Did her magic react to his because the Black or Gryffindor lines recognised something in the Potter line that it liked or was it a simple base attraction on James’ part that had nothing to do with magic and only the magical protection that James offered that her magic reacted to?

If that was true (the first one) then it made more sense that James had also felt that recognition and reacted based on those feelings. If the second...well that was a whole bag of trouble, wasn't it? Her attraction, while uncomfortable, was technically still in the realm of ok, but his attraction to her was definitely less alright. Especially since his attraction would have been towards a baby and something she most definitely was not thinking more about until he gave her answers. Which made her circle back to trying to get James to answer her and him mysteriously disappearing until she couldn’t asking him anything in light of other people surrounding them, thus making her angry.

To distract herself from going in circles and generally driving herself crazy, Grace decided she needed a distraction in the form of continuing to organise her Houses. When she tired of doing that, which was quite often really, she worked on her summer homework. Which is why she was out of summer homework and was now forced into actually dealing with a few pressing issues.

To start: Kreacher. Where to start would have been more accurate really. She had no idea what to do with him. Logically she knew she couldn't actually do anything at the moment since it would be more suspicious if she did. She could wave away any question as having the power to command him, but that lead to more problems. Questions about giving him clothes (which she couldn't do because he had been privy to more Order secrets than any of them could possibly guess), questions about sending him back to the (as of yet unknown) Black Manor, questions about how far she could trust Kreacher himself. It wasn't as if the house-elf hadn't been more loyal to a portrait than an actual breathing family member. In the end it came right back down to how far she was willing to go to keep her secrets to herself. She wasn't willing to share anything with the people around her just yet so it was only natural for her to keep her mouth shut. Wasn't like she hadn't grown up keeping secrets anyway, what was one more?

Another, slightly aggravating problem was the house in Belgium that she had wanted to sell. The house-elves were wonderful in cleaning it up and even had (with her permission of course) some people come in to do some structural work on the house before it was sold. According to the goblins who had handled the sale, it had been up to code. What no one realized at the time was that upon the sale of the property and the new owners moving in, a curse had been triggered. While she hadn't known of the curse nor its particulars after it had been triggered, she was, apparently, the responsible party. Or at least, that's what the new owners claimed in their lawsuit against her.

Grace guessed the curse had something to do with the chocolate debacle and was probably meant for one the members of the Black family (which was odd because why would someone trigger a curse to work _after_ the house had sold?), so in essence, yes, it was her fault. At least, in the sense that she was now a Black and the house had been in her possession until it was sold. Still, apparently she should have known about the curse in some way and was being strong-armed into compensating the family in question for emotional distress, failing to mention the dormant curse upon sale, and compensation for the medical treatment the husband had needed to rid himself of the unknown curse.

Too bad for them, Grace wasn't having it. More than that, she had used the goblins run-through of the property and the all clear to fight the ridiculous accusations. She was lucky that the goblins were involved and their name was on the verge of being besmirched since it allowed her to use the goblin's lawyers to handle the whole thing. Which naturally meant she'd win the case, but also that she'd probably have to pay them an arm and a leg. She may be rich now, but that didn't mean she forgot the value of money and anything to do with goblins was _expensive_.

While she waited to hear back from the lawyers, she had finally decided to keep the cottage in Ireland. Not because she needed to, but because it was the perfect place to hide out if she ever wanted to. It wasn't obscenely large and, when done, would be just enough for her to manage on her own. So instead of selling it, she was looking into how she could go about renovating it. Since it was part of the House Black estate, she had some of the House Black house-elves take a look at the cottage and the surrounding land in order to check what need to be done. They hadn't gotten back to her yet (she had emphasised that it didn't need to be done right away) so it wasn't a worry or a pressing issue. Considering everything else going on, it was kind of a relief that she could take her time with this small project.

"Your friend is very persistent." A voice announced. Grace startled and put a hand on her racing heart, looking up to find James leaning on the doorpost and watching her with a serious expression.

"Which one?" She asked once she had calmed a little. She looked back down to the various papers in front of her and sighed silently before sinking back into her chair and deciding a break wouldn’t hurt her. It was only the fifth one that morning after all.

"The bushy haired one." James answered, pulling her attention towards him as he stayed leaning and observing her instead of walking into the room.

Grace chuckled, a small smile on her face. "Hermione. Yeah, that makes sense. Probably been bombarding you with questions, right?"

James raised an eyebrow in question. "Bit of a handful, that one."

Grace only shrugged. Hermione was and she wasn't, but then again Grace was sure she was a handful too so in the grand scheme of things, what did it matter? Besides, she didn’t really take kindly to anyone making disparaging remarks about her best friend, whether she was talking to Hermione at the moment or not so it didn't seem right for her to answer one way or the other. Not that James was exactly in her good books either, but she had never been one for bullying and James had proven he wasn’t above the act.

"You've been avoiding me." James stated when Grace didn't reply.

"How could you tell?" She asked sarcastically. "And how long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to know that you are not doing your summer reading. What are you doing?" James asked, standing up from his lean as his eyes darted around the room as if checking for other occupants.

Grace sighed deeply as she dropped her pen and ran her hands through her hair, debating whether or not she should answer him. He was a Lord himself though, so maybe he would have some advice she could use. "Looking over my far too many House responsibilities?"

"House responsibilities?" James asked as he walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

"Houses, actually." Grace corrected, wondering if she should be worried about that closed door. Or about the fact that it had been closed _before_ he had opened it and she hadn't heard him do that either.

James frowned as he came to a stop in front of the desk she had temporarily appropriated. "How many do you have?"

"Thirty-four in total." Grace told him, watching his expression and grinning when she managed to shock him.

James choked. "How...how is that even possible?" He asked a bit flabbergasted while trying to clear his throat.

"They aren't major, titled, Houses if that was what you were wondering. They're all smaller Houses that have been left to the 'Girl-Who-Lived' after the last living descendent died. They all thought that I would apparently not only love the thoughtfulness of such a gesture, but that I would also know what the hell I was doing." She groused, still not over that particular sticking point. It wasn’t like she could get rid of them either which just added to her ire.

"And you don't?" James questioned, sharp eyes watching her.

"Why would any sane person enjoy this? Not only that but none of their wishes line up together. It takes me hours every single day just to maintain everything. It's driving me insane!" Grace burst out, well beyond her limit for one day and finally having someone she could rage against that was in the know.

James was silent while he thought about her problem. "Would you allow me to look over them?"

"Are you even allowed to?" She asked wearily, knowing better than most how seriously goblins took these kinds of things. James wasn’t in her House nor related to her in any way so he technically wasn’t allowed to have anything to do with any of her Houses.

He took a thoughtful pause. "Technically speaking? No. House related issues generally are supposed to stay within the family and bank related issues that are shared tend to leave the goblins a little bloodthirsty as they see it as insider trading."

Which she already knew but had desperately been hoping wasn’t true. "So you can't help me?" She asked him instead, a little dejectedly.

"I didn't say that." James said slowly, gesturing with his hands to let him explain when she frowned at him in annoyance. "You can, however, name me as your advisor. Well, an advisor to your House. That would give us the leeway to have me poking around a different House's finances and then I could help manage a few of them."

Grace chewed on her lip as she watched him and thought about his offer. "Why would you want to help me with this?"

"You mean besides the fact that you are clearly overwhelmed and overworked? Or maybe because I know what I'm doing since I've managed the Potter estate for several years now? Or possibly because I enjoy your company and I just want to find some way for us to spend time together so we can get to know each other better?"

Grace snorted in laughter. "Stalker." She said with a fond smile.

It did leave her with something to think on, though. If she could assign another person to look over those interests, couldn't she also just...give them away? She had just thought that it wasn’t possible, but thinking on it now, nowhere had it stated that she was to keep them until her death (she checked) and she was very certain she didn't want them. She already had two titled Houses that carried more weight and responsibilities than all thirty-two Houses combined. In truth, they were only added stresses that really weren't worth the effort. So if she could give them away, well, what was stopping her? All she really had to do was figure out how to accomplish that and that would take up more time and quite a few letters to the goblins to check if they would allow it. Not to mention having to go to the ministry because without a doubt they would need some kind of paperwork filed as well.

"Can't stalk you if you know about it." James replied lightly, walking over and around her desk.

"You know that's not how that works, right?" She asked bemused as she watched him move, wondering what he was doing.

James waved her argument away as he perched on the desk next to her chair, one of his legs resting next to her knee and burning her with heat and contact. "Hardly matters. Now, that can't be the only thing on your mind. What else do you have to do?"

She let out a long breath as she looked towards the books she had piled on the table to her left and ignored the light pressure of his leg. "Learning House duties and obligations along with Protocol."

James hummed, his features turning playful. "Anything about Courting rituals, perhaps?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "I know enough of the basics, thanks. Besides, if you're serious about it you have to initiate the ritual, which you haven't." She pointed out.

"True." He nodded, watching her with pleased eyes.

"And you've been taking liberties." She stated, hoping that this was finally the ‘right time’ to deal with all of the questions that had been causing chaos in her brain.

"Also true." He said with a large grin, hardly the image of repentance.

Grace narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth in aggravation. "That's it? That's all you're going to say?"

"What should I add?" James asked, seemingly more amused than he was just a second ago.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe sorry? Maybe that you won't do it again?" Frustration clearly made her sarcastic and despite getting a slight look from James she found she really didn’t care if he couldn’t find it within him to do the decent thing _and answer her fucking questions!_

"I won't lie to you." James countered, dropping his amusement and turning serious faster than she could blink. "I made a vow to you that I wouldn't lie and I refuse to start our relationship on a bad note."

"Meaning?" She pressed at the same time she gave him an eye roll. Dramatic bastard.

He leaned forward, wrapped an arm around her wrist and tugged her up to stand in between his spread legs. He pulled her in close with an arm around her waist while the other still lingered around her wrist.

"I'm going to be taking all the liberties I can until the formal declaration is sent." He whispered softly as he caressed her pulse point.

Grace's breath caught at the movements and at the tinge of anger that stirred again as he simply took what he wanted. This man, this _ridiculous_ man, had grown up with these rules. He knew all of them and somehow still managed to find loopholes in a ritual designed not to have loopholes. He had stated his intent which meant that both parties were aware of the coming request so they were bound by honour to keep to it. There was nothing in the protocol that indicated what happened between the intent and the delivery of the request. Usually it wasn't a problem because family members often surrounded the person in question and thus what James was doing would never happen. Grace, as fucking always, was the exception to the rule. She had no family (that knew of her existence) and was often on her own. If Snape had known about her he would have been at her side every step of the way to make sure nothing untoward was said or done.

"Besides that, I am your father." He said in a normal tone as he gently let go of her wrist and moved both of hands to rest on her hips, his thumbs a soothing rhythm against her skin despite the layers between them.

"Erm, no you're not." Grace answered a bit quickly, her nose wrinkling in disgust as her mind swirled in confusion at his actions. On the one hand he was being blatantly obvious with his desire and his intentions, but on the other hand he was also making pains to hide those same intentions and saying things like him being her father wasn’t helping her figure things out.

"In the eyes of everyone else you are." James pointed out, and that was hard to disagree with since it was the truth.

"So, what? You're allowed to take liberties?" She asked exasperated as she leaned into him just a bit more. She may not have wanted contact when she woke up this morning, but right now it was soothing her something fierce and she was trying her best not to be a dog and find the best spot of sunshine to sleep in. Metaphorically.

"I am allowed to treat you as a family member, thus being given a fair bit of personal interaction that perhaps a suitor would not be given." James told her, eyes laughing at her just a little.

"So until you formally court me you're going to pretend I'm your daughter to everyone who isn't ‘in the know’ because you can't take those liberties once you've sent the formal declaration?" Grace asked, her pitch going a bit higher with every word she spoke, disbelief coating her words.

James grinned roguishly at her. "Naturally."

"And when are you going to the send the formal declaration?" She questioned, not quite sure she was ready for the answer even as she asked it.

"As soon as find the perfect Courting gift, darling." James replied, tugging her closer even as she couldn’t physically get any closer.

"What if someone else gets to me before you?" Grace asked, wanting to know what he’d do to another suitor and wanting a distraction from wanting more from him right now.

"Unlikely." He dismissed easily.

Grace snorted. "Yeah, because the Girl-Who-Lived will most certainly not be getting Courting requests."

His lips twitched. "She won't if the owls can't find her."

Confusion clouded her thoughts. "What do you mean?"

James puffed up in what she figured was either pride or arrogance. Probably arrogance. "I'm the Head of your House."

"What? She asked confused as she placed her hands on his forearms. "No you're not, I'm..."

Grace Potter. She was a Potter, officially and documented to the whole world. Anyone that wanted a chance to be with Grace 'The-Girl-Who-Lived' Potter was allowed to send her a Courtship.

There were no limits on how many Courtships an individual was allowed or could accept, merely that once accepted they were bound to give the person an honest opportunity to see if they were compatible. Grace, with Snape out of the loop and as the Head of her own House, would be the person to either accept or reject the suits. It just so happened that those who did want a Courtship had to address the right House and as most thought she was a Potter, they would go to House Potter. Essentially, James was able to reject his own competition without them knowing about it.

"You devious fuck." She said slowly, awed at the balls of the man.

His grin only widened. "The books seem to be helping you." He said instead of acknowledging his deviousness.

Grace rolled her eyes but she let him get away with changing the subject. Was there more to be said about it? She wasn't currently interested in anyone else and she couldn't trust another person with the way the war was looming over all of them. How was she supposed to trust the intentions of stranger, maybe even friends, when they could so easily be swayed through violence or magic?

"Not as much as I'd like.” She confessed. “There's a lot in here I just don't understand."

"I could help you with that too, if you would like." James offered as he guided her back down to her chair.

She appreciated it since the discussion would be easier for her to follow if she wasn’t constantly aware of how he was touching her. She wasn’t used to being touched and reached for as often as James was doing it and she wasn’t under any illusions. He knew exactly what he was doing.

"Isn't that a conflict of interests?" She asked as she sat down and looked up at him.

He nodded slowly. "Most likely, but it will be beneficial to you and I get to spend some more time with you without being watched or questioned."

Grace puffed out some air while she thought about it. On the one hand it _would_ be beneficial to her to have someone explain the nuances of a culture she simply didn't understand. She was getting the basics down fine, the groundwork if you will, but she knew that she was missing the things the children grow up learning that aren't in the books. Sort of like a known secret. On the other hand, if she did let James do this he would have that much more access to not only her, but also to everything she was involved in. He would be able to report back to Voldemort about anything and everything they were doing, maybe even subtly guide her into thinking and/or doing whatever they were set out to do. Which reminded her.

"Are you going to answer my questions now?" Grace demanded, feeling like now was the perfect time to finally have it out with him.

"The ones burning your tongue?" James teased her, knowing full well how desperate she had been for answers.

"Ha-bloody-ha. Are you?" She pressed.

James simply nodded, sensing that she was quite done with his non-answers and his playful deflections. "You ask, I will answer."

Grace took a deep breath. "So. Mum."

"What would you like to know?" He asked as he stood up and found himself a chair, settling into it as he clearly expected their conversation to be a long one.

"Could you...could you tell me more about it? About the bet and how you went all the way to obliviating her to forget me?"

"Is it scaring you?"

Deep breath. Honesty. They wouldn't get anywhere if they weren't going to be truthful and open. "Yes."

"It's not a pleasant story." He warned her.

She snorted. "You obliviated mum, you don't seriously believe I think this is going to be a nice story, do you?"

"Lily." James stated with a deep sigh, opting not to comment on her statement. "Lily was Sirius' idea."

"Sirius' idea?" Grace asked, shocked down to her bones. Sirius? _Her_ Sirius? She didn't think that was possible. The Sirius she had known would have never played any sort of cruel game like that. Only...only she hadn't really known him when he had been a teenager, had she? She had seen how they had treated Snape though, and by that alone she could deduce quite a bit.

"It was always the four of us, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and I, but Sirius and I had known one another from various social occasions over the years. All pureblood children are dragged to at least five to show off how well we have been taught and how nicely we are growing up." James told her, giving her a little insight to how pureblood culture worked and how she would have grown up if Voldemort hadn’t chosen her to murder.

"What, like looks wise?" She asked curiously. That seemed a little shallow, in her opinion.

James nodded. "Mostly. If a child is not...blessed in the looks department then parents will usually push them academically. Most purebloods start trying to find matches at a young age, anything to secure a good future and perpetuate the line, one way or another. Back to the point, Sirius and I knew more about one another because of those occasions and we became slightly closer than with Remus and Peter. Not to say we weren't all close because we were, just that Sirius and I understood each other on a level that Remus and Peter couldn't since they hadn't had the same experiences."

"That makes sense. Like how I understand how Hermione thinks because we both grew up muggle." Grace nodded in acceptance. It would explain why she and Malfoy simply never got on.

"Precisely. Then came Lily. At first, because we were so young, it was nothing more than a game. She was friends with Snape and Snape hated us on sight. What better way to annoy the boy than to aggravate his best friend?"

"So you were a bully?" Grace asked, Snape's memory playing on a loop behind her eyes.

He paused to ponder the question. "In a sense, perhaps, but we didn't set out to focus solely on him. It was just a happy by-product of his own temper. I will admit that as we grew older we did become a little crueller. There were several instances in which we simply took advantage of a situation or one of us was bored enough to become cruel."

Grace sighed a little, partly because he told her the truth and partly out of disappointment that he was a bully. "So you were a bully. How did that turn into a bet?"

James didn't deny her statement and she was glad he hadn't attempted to. "Snape's interest in Lily grew each year, friendly first year touches turned into lingering touches and love sick looks from across the room. Sirius found it endlessly amusing how absolutely blind Lily was to it all. She hadn't made the switch from friend to something more. Sirius decided to take advantage of that. I assume you know he ran from his parent's?"

Grace nodded. "He mentioned your parents, said they were the best."

James smiled. "I was, am, an only child. Spoiled rotten for it too. When Sirius came to stay that summer, and all those that followed, our friendship deepened. A side effect neither one of us had envisioned was that we became somewhat competitive with each other. Sirius had never really known parental love and I was used to being the only one there." James laughed lowly, a little uncomfortable. "It, naturally, came to a head one night and he bet me that I couldn't get Lily in my bed before we left Hogwarts."

"Why would he bet that?" Grace asked, a little baffled. Why would anyone bet something like that? Did boys do these sorts of things when it was just them?

James snorted. "It was logical. He figured it was an easy win and that he would gain something from it. Lily still despised me, gave me quite the nasty side-eye whenever I was around her despite my many attempts to try and change her mind. Sirius wanted to get one over on me."

"So mum didn't trust you."

"She didn't like me." He corrected gently. "She didn't like the pranks I enjoyed playing, she didn't like my attitude, she didn't like my personality."

"That's a little harsh." Grace replied, a little shocked that her mother would go that far in her dislike. Hogwarts was a big place, surely she could just avoid him?

"Depends on who you ask." James said with a wry smile.

"So how did you," Grace grimaced, "'win'?"

"Funnily enough, that was thanks to Sirius as well." Grace's eyes bulged and James laughed. "That wasn't quite my reaction, but I very much enjoyed reminding Sirius of how he helped me 'win'."

"Bet he liked that." She said ruefully.

"Hated every minute of it. We went back to Hogwarts and as the year went on, Lily seemed to thaw, became more open with me and started to make advances of her own towards me. Mind you, this was mostly because she and Snape were now at odds and she didn't have his voice in her ear telling her what a bad idea it was to trust me."

Grace frowned. "But...that's against Protocol, isn't it?" She'd bloody well read enough of the stupid thing to realize how much of a faux-pas it was.

"It is." James nodded. "You must remember that your mother was a muggleborn and none of her friends had had the decency to enlighten her that what she was doing, while perfectly alright in the muggle world, was severely frowned upon in the wizarding world."

"And you took advantage of that." Grace said slowly, already seeing how it played out.

"I did." James sighed deeply when he saw the look on her face. "Grace...," He hesitated before shaking his head and continuing his story instead of saying whatever he had started to say, "Lily was suddenly on her own and Sirius' appearance at my home during the summer had somehow given her the impression that I had grown. I didn't feel the need to tell her otherwise."

"And Snape?"

"Snape." James snorted, leaning back in his chair as he remembered times long past. "Snape was a git. The more Lily shunned him, the more vicious he became with us, and the more Lily turned from him and grew towards me. It was easy, in the end." He finished with a self deprecating smile.

"Right." Grace said with a sigh. "And after?"

"After. After we had exams, after she didn't quite notice the change in our relationship until all the stress of N.E.W.T.'s had passed. It took her two weeks to confront me, and I think it only took her that long because she didn't want to have been so wrong about me."

"But she was." Grace said quietly, wondering if she was upset or hurt by his story instead of just relieved that it was finally out in the open.

"She was." James nodded.

"And then Snape got back in the picture because you were out?"

"I could only guess at how that happened, but I figure you're not too far off the mark. We hadn’t had contact since the end of Hogwarts when we bumped into each other once more. The war was raging and years had passed between us.”

“Why would she ever sleep with you again after all of that?” Grace asked, questioning the sanity of the woman who gave birth to her.

James sighed deeply. “War is a powerful motivator, and Snape was a Death Eater.”

“Shit.” Grace breathed out. She had known that, of course, but hearing it from this side, hearing how it all came to pass made it seem like a surprise.

“It was a few weeks before she came to me, pregnant and terrified. She told me of her fears and I immediately took her to the family healer. She was pregnant. She was very upset by it all, really. Told me quite a few things I wish I didn't remember and I certainly won't be repeating."

"Cussed you out then, did she?" Grace asked, thoroughly amused. She didn’t say it but Grace wondered how her mother could put all the blame on James when it clearly took two to tango. Had she been worried about Snape and his being a Death Eater? Or had she been worried for her own life?

"She did. Then it all came out, how she was still seeing Snape and that they were to be married but that she thought it couldn't be his."

"Why did she think that though? Were the dates between the two of you so far apart?"

James simply shrugged. "I didn't think it was my place to ask, not after what she had just said to me. I will say that I think there was enough time between us that it made her hesitate to believe that you were Snape's."

Grace nodded. "And then you kidnapped me."

James choked on his own spit. "I _what?!_"

She raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "Seriously? After everything I've learned about you, you're actually going to be surprised?"

"Kidnapping implies something very different." James replied in indignation.

"Mum had me, you saw me and then obliviated her. Kidnapping." She state factually.

"Missing a few steps there, darling." James pointed out, a little affronted.

Grace snorted at his huffy tone. "Like what?"

"Like the fact that your mother and I were married. You cannot kidnap your own child."

Grace looked at James like he was crazy. Maybe it was different in the Wizarding world, but in the muggle one taking a child without the others consent was considered kidnapping. "You can, actually, but that's beside the point. I wasn't your child."

James eyed her heavily, like he knew what she was thinking. "Biologically speaking, no. Legally? Yes."

She shook her head in exasperation but changed the topic, sensing that this was the wrong time to argue about it. "So mum and Snape would have gone off happily into the sunset without ever knowing about me and you would get to keep me."

"I wouldn't have put it quite like that, but yes." James replied as he inclined his head in agreement.

"But I wasn't yours." Grace repeated, stuck on that fact, trying to instil some muggle sense into him. "Why on earth would you want to keep me if I wasn't even yours."

James studied her intently, eyes roaming her face and looking for something Grace wasn't sure was there. "I'm not sure we have enough time today to fully go over that particular question, but I will say that it was based on our magic."

"Are you actually trying to get out of answering another question?" She asked annoyed, interrupting him before he could continue.

He looked at her in amusement. "Not in the least. It just concerns a far greater amount of knowledge than you currently have on the subject and I doubt you would take my word for it."

Grace softened at that. She knew it was true, that there was still so much she hadn’t learned or things she just hadn’t gotten the nuances of. "Meaning?"

James considered her before he walked over to her desk and looked over the titles she had laying there. "I suggest you research magic compatibility and how it affects witches and wizards. It should be part of your Courtship lessons." He said as he found the book he was looking for and riffled through it, presumably to get to the chapter that would cover what he wanted her to know.

"Oh." Grace deflated a little as she thought about the pile of things she still needed to learn. "I haven't gotten that far." She said with a sad sigh and a forlorn look.

"Which is why I don't want to discuss it with you until you've read about it and conducted your own research." James said as he tried to hide a smile at how deflated she had become.

"That seems fair. What about Snape? Why doesn't he remember me?" Grace redirected, not quite wanting to think about the extra task she now had on top of all her other work.

"Snape. That's a tough question since I'm not quite sure what your mother ever told him in relation to her pregnancy and her doubts about your parentage. All I know is that he doesn't know." James told her as he sat back down on her desk.

"Meaning if I want an answer that I would have to ask him." Grace sighed unhappily. There was no way that conversation would ever end well. Or start well, for that matter.

"I interacted with your mother only, never Snape. She, prudently, thought we should never be left in the same room while we were alive."

"Considering the death glares he gave you when I saw him, she probably had the right idea." Grace agreed.

"Next question?"

"Voldemort."

James nodded. "One of the big ones."

"The biggest." She corrected. "What are you doing with him? What are your intentions? What did you really do in the last war?"

"What am I doing with him?" He huffed. "I'm not, currently, doing anything with him. I was...acquainted with him during the last war, I think you know as much by now, and that has given me a bit of leeway in this time."

"I'm not sure that explained anything." She mumbled with a derisive snort that James ignored.

"Remember when I told you that both Sirius and I had grown up in pureblood circles?" Grace nodded since it wasn't that long ago. "Well, most pureblood's had the same feeling when it came down to the war. The real divide was how the Dark Lord went about it. The muggleborn come into our world and become blinded by magic, ignoring the rich culture and history. They have no sense of how the government is run or how they are supposed to compose themselves in our world. I will admit that this could easily be solved by having those classes assigned in Hogwarts, but as of yet, no one seems to have done it."

"Which leaves the muggleborns with a distinct disadvantage." Grace acknowledged. Not everyone had a friend like Hermione who liked to research anything and everything. Fuck, she was friends with Hermione and she still got caught in an almost-scandal with Diggory.

"Indeed. They learn quickly enough once they leave Hogwarts, but for many of them it's simply too late by that time. Their peers have judged them and it makes the 'real' world difficult for them to navigate. This makes them turn to their own and bundle themselves together. As it stands, there are currently more muggleborn individuals in our world than pureblood ones and our traditions and rituals are slowly making way for the muggle ones."

"So the purebloods hate them more while the muggleborns fight to make a place for themselves in the world they feel they belong to but are being prejudiced in."

"Correct. Voldemort rose to power by the mere mention of changing this balance. It, naturally, worked."

"Until he started to go a little crazy."

"Right again. By that time his grip was too tight on his followers and people were...frightened. The more fanatical amongst the purebloods stayed loyal and true, but the rest of us started to distance ourselves from his radical ideas."

"So where do you come in?"

"I was someone who believed in his cause but not in his actions. His hatred against muggles and muggleborn were taken too far for my liking and I slowly extracted myself. Then, of course, the prophecy came to light and the big bad Dark Lord made me a target."

Grace frowned. "That was clever, but you didn't actually tell me anything about you and Voldemort."

James smirked in her direction. "Observant, princess. No, I didn't. I met the Dark Lord during one of the pureblood socializations, can't for the life of me remember which one now but it was probably as dull as I remember them all being. I was young, I was restless, and I was stupid. He was a scholar who enjoyed a good conversation and I enjoyed riling people up. It was a match made in hell, honestly. He spoke about his goals and I argued against them all."

"You...became friends?" She asked, incredulous.

"Merlin no!" James laughed freely. "You don't become friends with a man like that. You do, however, intrigue him. We met, once in a while, and he had me do certain tasks that I thought were exciting. Playing both sides gave me a rush like no other and I enjoyed the game."

"Until it stopped being fun." Grace guessed.

James inclined his head. "It went from petty politics to outright war. I'm sure the changes were already happening while I was happily playing double agent, I wasn't aware enough at the time to take any notice of them. By the time I did, it was too late."

"He tried to kill you." She nodded, then frowned as a thought occurred to her. "If he did go full psycho and tried to kill you, why are you willing to work with him now?"

James chuckled. "I'm not working with him, I'm using his knowledge of our past interactions to secure your future."

"What does that mean?" Grace asked, a little bewildered. Wasn’t that just the same thing?

"It means I'm using him to keep you safe." James stated softly, leaning into her space and resting one hand on the arm of her chair for balance while the other gently stroked her cheek.

"So you're not on team Voldemort?" She asked him quietly hopeful, looking up at James and searching his face.

James hesitated before leaning back and taking away the warmth of his hand. "My views haven't changed." He replied slowly as if to gauge her reaction. "But I still do not like nor approve of his methods."

Grace took a few minutes to process what he had told her before she nodded. "That seems fair. Is that why you're here now?"

"Well." He said slowly. "I believe that question circles back to magic compatibility."

"Meaning you won't answer it?"

"Meaning I will address it when you are better informed. I would rather have you coming to me with questions when you understand the basics instead of relying on me to give you that information."

A knock sounded before Grace could answer and the door opened before she could decide whether or not to let the person in.

"Sorry to interrupt, but you've gotten a letter." Hermione said as she walked into the room, looking both curious and apologetic as her eyes darted from Grace to James and back again.

It wasn’t the first time someone had barged in on their time together (and it wouldn’t be the last) but this time it made her angry instead of mildly annoyed. Maybe it was because she was still angry with Hermione but it was probably mostly because she was finally having the conversation she had wanted with James and Hermione had broken their quiet bubble of truth.

It also didn’t escape her notice that James had tensed up when Hermione had entered. She had had glimpses of the two of them over the past two days and had seen how James had started tolerant of her but had quickly become avoidant. Grace knew that once Hermione focused on a subject she would research it to death and having James here, a living, breathing example of pureblood culture, was just something she couldn’t pass up. It therefore made sense to Grace that Hermione would use any opportunity to corner James and have a conversation with him, much like the one Grace had just had. The only difference was that James felt almost no inclination to be either nice to Hermione (something Grace didn’t quite mind in her anger) or to indulge her curiosity. It was simply too bad for James that neither of those things had mattered nor stopped Hermione from getting what she wanted.

"From who?" Grace asked confused as she stood up and reached out her hand, burying her anger since it would do her no good. Everyone she was close with was in this house and it wasn’t like she got mail from any muggles, seeing as Dudley had taken care of that years ago. She took the letter that Hermione had handed her and turned it over to look at the seal. Gringotts. Honestly, she should have known. Persistent bastards.

"What do they want?" James asked, standing next to her and politely not looking at the letter although he clearly recognised the seal.

"They want me to look through the gift vaults." Grace answered as she skimmed the letter.

"What are gift vaults?" Hermione asked, propping herself up on the arm of the couch, clearly in no hurry to leave the room.

"Vaults full of gifts and letter people have sent to The-Girl-Who-Lived over the years." Grace answered shortly, glaring at the other girl who still hadn't had the decency to apologise to her and finally letting a bit of her hurt and anger bleed through her tone. It wasn’t even as if Hermione didn’t know what was wrong since they not only had this argument last summer but Grace had also, _very clearly_, shouted it at her two days ago. The fact that Hermione hadn’t done anything other than try and justify their decisions just made her all the more irate.

"Right." Hermione said as she stood up again, wringing her hands nervously and looking uncomfortable, clearly sensing that Grace wasn’t in the mood to play nice. "I'll just-hm? Is that Ron I hear?"

Grace narrowed her eyes as she watched Hermione practically race out of the room. Seems Hermione could take a hint when she wanted. A hand snaked around her waist and pulled her into a warm embrace.

"You could always forgive her." James murmured softly in her ear.

"I could." Grace agreed as she leaned back in her arms. "If she ever said she was sorry to begin with."

"The goblins?" James asked instead, understanding her resentment and her unwillingness to speak about any of it just yet. The ass probably just didn’t mind that he wouldn’t have to share her time with anyone else.

"Hm? Oh, they want me to make an appointment to go sort the vaults out." She said as she looked over the letter again. Nagnok was getting testy, although how she could tell that she wasn't sure.

"What vaults?" Fred asked as he walked into the room.

"Why is Hermione asking Ron if he needs help with his homework?" George asked hardly a second later as he followed his brother into the room.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the saviour of the Wizarding world.” Fred said, coming to a stop and throwing out his arm to stop his twin.

“We haven’t even bowed!” George said with a horrified look.

“The uncouthness!” Fred agreed, before dropping down into an exaggerated bow full of fake reverence.

“The insult!” George added before dropping down into an even lower bow with exaggerated hand twirls.

James growled under his breath as Grace laughed. "Get up you idiots. The-Girl-Who-Lived letter and gift vaults." She answered as the boys stood up and made sounds of understanding.

"Why do you need to take care of this now?" James asked thoughtfully as he tightened his hold on Grace. "Goblins usually don't care about things like this since having a vault means more money for them."

"That's what I thought too, but they're getting a little pushy for me to do something about it now that I know about them." Grace shrugged, not minding how James seemed to need her closer. It did surprise her that he seemed to think Fred and George were some kind of competition, especially considering how often the three of them put their heads together for a new prank.

"Soo..." Fred said leadingly while George wiggled his brows.

James snorted even as Grace shook her head. "No, no way am I letting you two loose in there. I have no idea what's in there." She objected immediately. Who knew what those two would do?

"All the more reason to let us go!" George cajoled.

"The treasures unseen!" Fred whispered theatrically, eyes large and excited.

"The letters unknown!" George crowed happily.

Grace watched them warily. "Are you two just looking for blackmail material on the people who wrote to me?"

"Us?" Fred asked, very much insulted as he straightened up and put an offended hand on his heart.

"Never!" George stated as he took a step back and placed both hands on his chest.

"The nerve of you!" Fred continued looking her up and down with a frown.

"Such accusations!" George accused her, a deep scowl on his face she might have believed if he hadn’t been fighting a smile.

Grace shook her head and looked unconvinced. "Yeah, ok. Fine.” She gave in, thinking that more help might actually help her get through whatever was in the vaults and company would always be nice. “Let's just go and get this over with. The more the merrier." She was halfway through a hand motion to usher them out of the room when had a sudden, disturbing, thought and looked back at James. "But people think you're dead."

James looked at her, his eyes clearly laughing at her. "So they do."

"You can't just wander around when people think you're dead." Grace said, already seeing the chaos unfolding.

James arched a brow as his lips turned up. "Why not?"

"Because you're dead." Grace repeated slowly, not understanding why he wasn’t getting it. People just didn’t turn up looking exactly as they had when they had died over a decade ago.

"I'm pretty sure I'm not." James said helpfully.

"That's the point! You're dead but you're not, you can't just go about Diagon Alley like nothing's the matter." She stated, poking him in his absurdly hard chest for emphasis.

"Of course I can, I'm dead. Don't worry, darling. I have a plan for that." James added as he grabbed her finger when she opened her mouth to protest.

"Do you?" She asked, distracted now that his hand was still holding her captured finger. She tugged at it a little before he seemed to get the idea and released her finger. She did her best to ignore the warm grip she could still feel as she dropped her hand to her side.

"I do. For the moment, however, it simply doesn't matter because people generally won't believe a dead man isn't dead."

Which, point. Who would believe that twenty-three year old James Potter, who looked like he did when he was murdered, was suddenly back from the dead and out shopping with his not-daughter for the day? No one, and if they did think he looked liked James, they would explain it away as either a close resemblance or a trick of the light.

"Did you get any of that?" Fred asked George while they both looked at Grace and James with quite a bit of puzzlement.

"Not a thing." George replied happily, questions apparent in both of their eyes despite the silence that followed.

"Fantastic." Fred said as he slapped his hands together and rubbed them in enthusiasm. "Shall we head out then?"

"If you don't take me with you," Ginny started threateningly as she burst through the doors and startled them all, "I'll tell mum you lot are going out."

As threats went, it was quite a good one. Mrs. Weasley was terrifying. As it happened though, they bumped into Mr Weasley first and let James explain their outing and why three of his children suddenly felt the need to join them. It was clear that Mr Weasley was heavily against letting his daughter go (he couldn't stop the twins since they had just bought property in Diagon Alley) and even started to protest against Grace herself going when James pulled out the old 'letter from Gringotts' card. No one said 'no' to the goblins. Mr Weasley grumbled and protested but agreed to let them go if he could join them as an extra guard. James shrugged as if it was a good idea before looking at Grace and when Grace didn't protest, he agreed. Which is how the small group found themselves flooing to The Leaky Cauldron just past lunch and making their way to the bank. No one had wanted to ask what Mr Weasley had told his wife to let three of her children out of her sight, let alone the house.

Flooing into the Leaky Cauldron was both enlightening and a struggle. When she had thought about her magical sensitivity before, it hadn't occurred to her that the Black townhouse was doused in really old magic. It had only recently been inhabited again and so it made sense that while she felt that old magic, it wasn't as potent as the magic in Diagon Alley where it was new and layered by all the different people who either used everyday spells or the spells and wards that protected the alley.

There were two different kinds of old magic that Grace had been able to discern. One was the actual feeling of old magic, as in magic that left a residue but either hadn't been renewed or the power had simply faded out over time. That usually was just a by-product of time and came with buildings and places that had a lot of foot traffic before but had dwindled down over time.

The other side of that was old magic that felt old and still held the power that had been used in the casting. It neither faded out nor needed a boost and stayed alive by gathering the magic needed from a source outside the wizard who cast it in the first place. Both of these old magics were found in the townhouse and Grace, while eventually being able to distinguish the two, hadn't quite realised what it would mean on her senses. Now, however, as she walked into a place that was saturated with 'new' magic, it felt like she was being bombarded with sensory input. She didn't quite know if this was simply a by-product of the rings that would eventually settle down as she got used to it, or something that she had had inside of her already that the rings unlocked.

“Grace?” James murmured as he grabbed her hand and tucked it into the cradle of his arm as he manoeuvred them so they could have a little more privacy. “What's wrong?”

She closed her eyes for a moment and tightened her hand on his arm, trying to steady herself without letting on to the people around her what was going on. In that moment she appreciated the Wizarding customs all the more for making it seem like James was simply getting them settled instead of fussing over her and making it known to everyone around them that something was wrong with her. She felt James shift a little and startled when she felt something drop over her head. In her surprise she opened her eyes and stared at James.

“It's a necklace.” He clarified as he lifted her hair from her nape so the necklace could settle against her skin.

Grace looked down to see a simple chain with an elaborate flower design hanging off the end. “What's this for?” Grace asked softy as she looked back up.

“I know there's still quite a bit you have to learn, but I remember what my Lordship ring did to me when I first had it on.” James muttered lowly, conscious of where they were but also aware that Grace would need an answer.

“So this is normal?” Grace asked, almost deflating in gratefulness that it wasn't another thing weird or wrong about her.

“This is normal.” James soothed her, patting the hand holding his arm and turning her to follow the rest of the group who had started to make their way out of the dingy pub.

"Will it last long?" Grace questioned quietly as she looked about surreptitiously to see if her small freak out had been caught by any onlookers. Luckily for her it seemed that no one had even realized 'Grace Potter' had flooed in, let alone that a girl seemed ‘troubled’. She’d had enough of being ‘troubled’ for one lifetime thanks to that Skeeter bitch.

James shook his head. "A few months at the most but walking into more magically activated places was always an ordeal." Grace snorted at the understatement. "It's part of the reason the titled Houses are so adamant about keeping true to the customs and rituals of our world. We have all felt this magic, all felt the power and the liveliness of what is housed in our bodies. The muggleborns and half-bloods who were kept from our world will never understand this connection." James explained to her as they made their way to Gringotts, taking their time so Grace could feel the difference the necklace was making while still being able to sense the differences in the magic around them.

While she didn't disagree with that (since she wouldn't have ever felt this if she hadn't gotten her rings) she also didn't feel like pointing out how hostile the wizarding world was in treating the 'newcomers'. They were basically taught rudimentary magic and then let loose in a world that was far more complex and unknown than they had first envisioned. It left them feeling wrong-footed and like outcastes, knowing they belonged but never quite fitting in and not knowing why.

“And the necklace?” She asked instead.

“Something my father gave to me. An heirloom that has been passed down over the years. It dampens the effects of the sensitivity any time you feel overwhelmed.” James informed her, placing his hand on hers as they got closer to the bank.

“So it doesn't work, say, at Grimmauld Place?” Grace asked, intrigued by the fact that James had simply handed over an heirloom and how it would work in different settings.

James shook his head. “You have already become used to Grimmauld Place so the necklace wouldn't feel the need to assist you.”

“That sounds awfully close to sentient magic.” Grace mumbled uncomfortably.

James simply chuckled. “That's not how the charms work. The charms monitor, for lack of a better term, your stress levels and when you feel overwhelmed they become active.”

“Oh.” Grace said with a slow nod. “Like a heart monitor that makes you calm down instead of going on to having a panic attack? That makes sense.”

“A what?” James asked, clearly puzzled at her analogy.

Grace shrugged minutely, well aware of how many people were around them and how public they were. “Muggle term.”

“Hurry up, you two!” Fred called out, already on the steps of Gringotts and grinning widely down at them.

“There's adventure near!” George said, popping out from behind his brother to give them both some heavy eyebrow action.

Grace laughed and shook her head as she followed them into the bank. The group of them had clearly gone in ahead and chosen to stand in line since it was quite busy. Grace and James joined them and Grace requested an audience with Nagnok before being quickly, if not very grumpily, led to his office.

"So. How are we doing this?" Fred asked as they stood in front of Nagnok who looked immensely displeased to have that many people in his office. Grace thought he should be a bit more enthusiastic considering she was finally going to go through one of the vaults he had been pestering her about.

Grace sighed forlornly. How the hell was she supposed to know? "We pick one of the two? Either the letter vault first or the gift vault."

"How about the letters first-" George started as he looked at Grace's lost expression.

"-and then the gifts?" Fred finished with a bop of his head.

Grace shrugged. "Seems reasonable." She turned to Nagnok. "Which vault is that?"

"Vault 517. Bladerazor will take you." Nagnok stated as he handed her the key to the vault.

Something else she had never been given. How many times was this going to happen? How many times was she going to find out about things she should have already known? How many times was she going to feel that twitch of betrayal she would have to ignore because there were more pressing issues to deal with? It wasn't something she enjoyed thinking about, it wasn't even something she enjoyed feeling and she really hoped this would be the last of it despite knowing better. There should have been someone in her life that was not only aware of the damn vaults (since she had never gotten any fan mail) but also capable of dealing with them since they had obviously set up the vaults. Instead she was forced to, once again, ignore her misgivings and simply followed the group as they trailed behind the goblin in question.

Since the carts only sat two (technically four but no one really ever sat next to the goblin) and the goblins refused to send another down, they were all forced to pile in and hold on for dear life. By life she clearly meant a few good sticking charms to the soles of their feet while they all piled on top of each other and formed an odd group hug.

Grace had no idea how they had even managed it because she was sure Bladerazor had gone faster just to see if he could make one of them fall to their deaths. Fun guys, goblins.

"Vault 517." Bladerazor stated as he hopped out the cart and walked over to the vault.

The rest of them either fell out or had to climb over the fallen people to get to the safety of solid ground. The way up was something she wasn't looking forward to.

"Key." Bladerazor demanded and Grace hurriedly handed it over. The goblin grunted and inserted the key and opened the door. "I will stay here until you are done. We close at six."

"Right." Grace nodded, very aware that it was not a suggestion.

"What happens if we're still in here after six?" Ginny asked curiously once she had sorted herself out.

"We open at seven." Bladerazor stated, his grin a little malicious.

Really, they all should have seen that one coming because if there was one thing that irked goblins the most it was wizards taking advantage of them, even if it didn't seem that way to the wizards. Grace also noticed that Ginny didn't ask if the goblins looked for people who were still in the bank the following morning.

"We have about four hours today then." Mr Weasley said after he glanced at his watch.

"But it's only a little past half twelve!" Fred exclaimed as he tried to peek around Grace to see what was in the vault.

"And we should probably be home in time for dinner." Mr. Weasley said patiently. "Unless you want your mother to track us down?"

All three Weasley children gulped and shook their heads. Grace snorted and shook her head as she entered the vault only to stop dead in her tracks when her brain filtered what exactly she was seeing in front of her. She heard the others walk in behind her and the intakes of air as they were all faced with a very large problem.

Grace hadn't exactly known what to expect, but having literal piles upon piles of letters wasn't it. She wasn't even sure how big the damn vault was because there were simply too many letters to know for sure. How had that many letters even fit in here? How bloody long was it going to take to get through them all?!

"I suppose I can't just chuck them all in a great big fire, can I?" Grace asked weakly into the stretching silence.

James draped his arm over her shoulder in a show of commiseration. "That wouldn't be wise. Some of the letters might have a gift attached to them and you would need to reply to those." He pointed out, pulling her into his side and dropping a kiss on her forehead when she turned to look up at him.

"Thought you might say that." She said dejectedly.

"How would you like to start Grace?" Mr Weasley asked, clearly wondering why he had agreed to help them.

Grace looked around again, leaning against James as she thought. She really would rather not read about what the 'public' though of her these past two years, so starting with those letters was certainly out of the question. Just starting at random was an option, but if they sorted the letters by age, then she at least would have a starting point. She could work her way up the years and get ready for the nastier ones that came about because of the TriWizard hell and the Prophet calling her a crazed liar. Joy.

"Let's start with the oldest then." Grace stated with a decisive nod. "Let's get them in the bag and we can look at them went we get back." She gestured to the extendable bad she had snatched at the last minute, not knowing for certain which vault she would walk into today.

"Clever thinking." Mr Weasley stated approvingly.

"Yeah, let's not get stuck in here forever." Ginny mumbled as she looked out the vault door and towards the goblin who was keeping track of, well, probably them. "So how do we do this? Is there a spell we can use? Are the piles already sorted? Should we check if they are sorted?" Ginny said louder, smacking her hands together loudly before standing up straighter and nodding sternly.

They all looked around the room a little lost. There were a lot of piles.

"Would goblins even care to organize it all?" Fred questioned lowly, aware of Bladerazor just outside.

"They'd probably just dump the lot it here." Ginny replied just as softly.

"So we take one letter from each pile and open them, sorry Grace, and then determine what to do from there." James stated, giving them a game plan they could work with.

It also warmed her heart a little to know he cared enough to acknowledge that this was technically still her mail and that she should be the only one to read it. Under the circumstances, however, she found she didn't really care who read the letters because they weren't really addressed to her, but to a figurehead that the wizarding world had made up.

"And don't forget to test all of the letters." Mr Weasley warned them. "I don't care how long some of them have been here, you don't know what people might do to a letter and I'd rather like to keep you all safe. So what do we do?"

"Test all the letters." They all chorused dutifully, James and Grace sharing an amused look before diving into a random pile.

Instead of calling out to each other about the order of the dates, each one of them fell into a silent pattern of opening letters and reading the contents, quickly forgetting about finding a magical solution and instead enjoying the act of finding out what people wrote to the Girl-Who-Lived. They, separately from each other, did little spells to encourage older letters to find their way to their sides to be put in Grace's bag, but none of them were really that bothered with trying to hurry or organize anything.

It amused Grace to read the letters, if she was being honest. It felt like most of them were writing a stranger and it was beyond odd to think of a grown witch or wizard writing a baby. Most of them were thank-you letters, a few of them gushed how brilliant she was, and a few creepier ones went on to regale her with their lives together once she was old enough. Thankfully those of the latter variety were few and far between, but it still caused her an alarming jolt to read those. She really hoped they wouldn't write to her once it had become known she had started Hogwarts.

A few of the letters mentioned small gifts or monetary donations that she would have to write down. She would not only need to thank them (years too late) but also do something with the gifts themselves. Then again, she would have to figure out what the gift was first and then sort it depending on type. Was it a hard toy or a plush? Was it food related (god she hoped not) or baby related (crib, changing table, diapers, children’s clothing, etc). There was a lot to think about, which naturally made the letters seem like the easier option, despite the literal mountain that was looming in front of her.

One pile at a time, though. That was the only way to get through them all. She'd also have to make some kind of arrangement with Nagnok to send her some of the piles while she was in Hogwarts otherwise she'd no doubt get hounded about sorting the bloody thing out again. She groaned at the thought because she knew he'd in all likelihood make her pay for the service and make sure the amount was obscene just because the situation was unusual. Bloody goblins.

"What the-?" Grace breathed out in confusion as she looked at the letter she had just picked up, familiar handwriting staring right back at her.

"What's wrong?" George asked absently as he frowned over an envelope he was currently holding before testing it for potions, curses, and nefarious residual magic.

"It's from Sirius." Grace uttered shocked.

"Sirius? Our Sirius?" Fred asked as he poked his head around a pile of letters and quickly abandoned his small curated pile before clamouring over the pile of letters in front of him to get to her side.

Grace nodded. "Why is this even here?" She asked as she ripped open the letter.

George appeared on her other side and took the envelope she discarded. "Probably because it's addressed to the Girl-Who-Lived."

"Why would that matter?" Ginny asked, looking up from her own pile as the drama unfolded, clearly more fun than whatever she was reading.

"Because writing to the Girl-Who-Lived would put your letter here, but if you wrote to Grace Potter she'd get the letter directly."

"And since he wrote to the Girl-Who-Lived..." Ginny trailed off leadingly.

"It wound up here." Grace finished with a frown. "But why?"

Ginny shrugged. "It was Sirius. Who the bloody hell knew what he was thinking. He went a bit mad at the end there. No offence." She added with a wince once she heard what it sounded like.

Grace wasn't amused even though Ginny did have a point. It was just all a bit too soon really, to be thinking of Sirius in a bad light. He still represented a way out for her, the kind of life she would have liked if everything had worked out in her favour from the start.

"This is dated in my third year." Grace said, looking at the date. She frowned and grabbed the other envelopes, ripping them open and checking each date. "What is going on? These go all the way up to a few weeks before he died."

They all stared at each other, questions of Sirius' erratic behaviour in each of their eyes.

"Why the hell would he keep writing the Girl-Who-Lived when he could write to you any time he please?" George finally asked Grace, breaking the confused silence.

"The amount of letters here is unreasonable." James stated grumpily as he trudged through a small gap in between piles to reach their group. He looked up when nobody answered him and faltered at the look they shared. "Who was threatened? Is it a curse?" He asked, quickly making his way to Grace's side.

Grace shook her head. "No. It's..."

"Sirius." Ginny picked up as Grace faltered. "Sirius wrote to the Girl-Who-Lived the entire time he knew her."

"That's...odd." James said slowly, his face quickly going through a range of emotions she couldn't pinpoint without having had a closer look at him. Which would look weird and probably lead to several uncomfortable questions so she settled for nodding instead.

"So? What does it say?" Ginny prodded when Grace just stood there staring at James.

"Huh? Oh right, let me have a look." She said as she opened the letter she was currently holding.

It was one of the ones dated from her third year, from when he was on the run and still trying to find Pettigrew. She frowned at the words, most of them not making sense and a lot of them unreadable because they were smudged with dirt or compromised by water. What did catch her attention was the fact that he had written his first letter just after seeing her (after scaring her senseless with his animagus form) and that got her thinking.

She had always figured that no one had been able to find her because she had been protected by magic, but if Sirius could find her at the Dursley's (never mind Diggle) then why hadn't Remus ever made any sort of motions towards visiting her? Had he ever elected to come find her? Because Sirius, who had never known where she was, had found her on his own while being hunted by both wizards and muggles. So where had Remus been? Why had he only shown up in her third year?

Why did she keep thinking things like this? More to the point, why was there always an opportunity to question someone she thought she trusted? Remus had become a safe haven for her and now suddenly, in the face of a fucking dead man’s letter, she was forced to face a truth that hadn’t occurred to her before now. More questions she didn't like, more questions she needed answers to. Her fucking life.

"Grace?" James asked softly, suddenly by her side and placing his hand on her back, startling her back into the present.

"Yeah, sorry, got lost there for a second." She said wryly. She handed the letter off to George who was terrible at keeping his curiosity under wraps. "There's not a lot in there. Most of it is smudged and unreadable but the gist is that he's my godfather and he'll avenge my parents death."

Fred, who was peaking over George's shoulder, scrunched up his face in confusion. "You can actually read this? I can't make heads or tails of it!"

"Sirius wrote to me a lot in fourth year." Grace said with a shrug as she turned back to the letters.

If Sirius had kept writing to her all that time then what did his last letter say? With shaking hands she found the most recent envelope and tore into, only to blink at its contents. She was, quite frankly, a bit stunned. It was gibberish. Not like the first letter he had sent her where it seemed to her that he was too eager to get his thoughts down on paper and with the dementor effects still lingering quite heavily in his body and on his mind. No, this was what Grace considered the writings of a crazy man. He jumped from telling her he loved her to telling her to watch out for herself to telling her he was being controlled. _In the same sentence_.

She looked up with a helpless look on her face. "He's crazy." She said as she looked up at James.

James frowned at her, an intense look that made her uncomfortable because of its intensity. While she was getting used to the more frequent touches and gestures, she was still very much uncomfortable with being the sole focus of someone’s attention, like she habitually was with James.

"Why do you say that?" James asked her, concern in his tone.

She brandished the letter at him to take his focus off her. "Because he was! Look at this! Look at it!" She repeated when James made no move to take it. "It's practically just as bad as the first one but without the water and mud to muddle the words."

James took the letter a little reluctantly and Grace watched as his eyes scanned the page before a frown appeared on his face. "This," He said slowly, "is not the Sirius I knew."

"It's not the one I knew either." Grace mumbled as she looked for the letter that came before that one.

Where all his letters going to be like this? At some point he had gotten a bit better hadn't he? Or had he just been really good at hiding it? What was Grace supposed to think of all of this?

"What's going on?" Mr Weasley asked as he walked back to the group, a pile of letters in his arms. "These are the oldest I could find." He said as he dumped them into the waiting bag.

"Sirius wrote to Grace." Ginny stated as she turned to look from Grace to her father.

Mr Weasley frowned. "Was that unusual?" He asked Grace.

"Not the writing part, the part where he wrote to the Girl-Who-Lived certainly is though." James answered him before Grace could.

Mr Weasley only seemed more confused. "Why would he do that?"

"Perhaps he wanted to make sure you received the letters?" James injected, looking thoughtfully at Grace.

"But why?" Grace asked, perplexed. "He wrote to me all the time. Why would he write to me like this when he still wrote me letters normally?"

"How many did he write you?" Ginny asked as she looked at the stack Grace was holding in her hands.

"Oh, erm, I dunno actually." Grace said as she checked the ones in her hand. "I've got three here from third year, one from fourth and two from fifth."

"Should we check if there are more?" Fred asked even as he looked around him as if one would magically jump out at him.

Grace shrugged. "Would we find them all in this mess?" She asked as she gestured the hills of letters around them.

"Why don't we look for them now and see what we find? Doubtlessly we'll find them all eventually." Mr Weasley stated. "Fred, George, you start over there. Grace you might as well continue searching for them where you are. Ginny take the left and James the right. I'll take the ones behind Grace."

Fred and George saluted their father and went right to it while Ginny sighed deeply and trudged over to her assigned area, probably regretting her demand of joining them.

"What do we do if we find any? Just hand them over to you Grace?” Ginny asked as she started to go through her side.

"I-uh-sure? I have no idea why he'd write me, so I suppose you could open them if you wanted to. Might save us some time in figuring out which ones are important. Just don't read on if you think it is important." Grace warned a little. She didn't exactly want her secrets out there, but she also didn't want to deal with Sirius' craziness either. Maybe this was the happy medium? One could only hope.

They were all fairly silent after that, each of them going through the letters in their sections in a methodical way, quickly discarding anything that didn't have Sirius' name on it. The only sound, besides those of the letters and the shuffling and the occasional muttered curses, were Fred and George's conversation about the best way to organize the letters and what spell would be best to do it. Grace was only listening with half an ear but was amused by their rather scientific approach to finding out the best way to deal with the whole vault.

"Grace?" Mr Weasley muttered as he appeared next to her, his face doing something odd.

"Yes?" Grace asked slowly, not sure what he wanted and a little spooked at how quietly he had managed to sneak up on her.

He manoeuvred them a little bit away from the group and then hesitated before clearly deciding it was just best to get it out. "Did you and Sirius Black have a relationship?"

Grace bit her lip. "I wouldn't go that far." She said slowly. "We had feelings for each other."

Mr Weasley nodded. He opened his mouth and then closed it again, taking a deep breath as he searched her face. "I can't say I'm happy to hear that, and not just because he was twice your age and clearly had some concerns resulting from Azkaban." Grace nodded at his stern voice. It was a fair assessment and the very reason she had kept it from anyone who could have interfered. "This letter, however," He continued as he lifted the letter he had in his hand, "seems to indicate..." He trailed off, his face making a complicated sort of grimace.

"That we were in a relationship?" She hedged, wanting to help him out even though she had no idea what Sirius could have possibly written.

"Well, yes, that as well but no, not in the strictest of senses." His eyes darted towards James. "This seems to indicate that James isn't your father."

Grace blinked at him. "I'm sorry, what?" It wasn't that she was surprised, because she was that, but she couldn't remember if James had told her that Sirius had known about her true parentage. "I...James isn't my father?" She asked sceptically.

"Mind you, Sirius isn't coming off very stable given how he has written what he has, but he indicates that Severus-"

"Snape?" Grace interrupted, even more shocked. How could Sirius possibly have known _that_?

Had James told him? Had this been part of the bet? She could actually see Sirius knowing because from the stories James had told her so far about the two of them, they hadn't really kept any secrets, but that Sirius knew who her real father was? That was edging hard into betrayal territory if he had known and never told her, but beyond that she was sure that James would have told her that Sirius had known.

"It seems Sirius had obliviated Severus of the knowledge that he is your father." Mr Weasley said, carrying on as if Grace’s whole world hadn’t just shifted out from underneath her.

"I think I need to sit down." Grace said faintly as she plopped down exactly where she stood.

Sirius. Her Sirius. Sirius had not only known her real parentage but was apparently the one responsible for Snape not remembering that he had a daughter. Sirius. She took in a gulp of air and almost choked on the betrayal she was feeling. _Sirius!_

"Grace!" Mr Weasley stated alarmed as he reached down for her. Thankfully he kept his voice down so no one had yet noticed anything amiss.

"Could you-could you please keep this to yourself? For a little while at least? While I figure out if what he said is actually real or just..." She asked faintly as she accepted his hand and stood up again, ignoring his worried look.

"The ramblings of a man who spent too much time around the dementors?" Mr Weasley said kindly.

Grace nodded. "If this is true..." She hesitated.

Mr Weasley nodded. "It changes everything."

"He hates me." Grace said softly, repeating something that had been on her mind for quite a while and had refused to utter to another soul. Shock made her tongue loose but she didn’t regret saying it. Mr Weasley wasn’t the type of man who would mock her for wanting a parental figure to love her.

"James?" Mr Weasley asked gently.

"Snape." Grace clarified.

Mr Weasley shook his head and smiled gently at her. "I don't think he hates you at all."

"You haven't seen him when he gets free reign over us." Grace joked weakly.

Mr Weasley patted her hand awkwardly. "No, but I think I can say I know the man in question a bit better than his pupil would."

"Well, let's see if what Sirius said is even a bit real before we tackle any other problems." Grace sighed out, not even bothering to contradict Mr Weasley's very false opinion of Snape.

"Would you like my help in figuring it out?" Mr Weasley offered kindly.

Grace hesitated again. "I think...I think, if you wouldn't mind, that I'd like to come back either tomorrow or the next day to make an appointment with the goblins to get an inheritance test."

Mr Weasley nodded. "That seems like a good place to start. Don't feel like you need to rush this, Grace. You need to get this sorted in the way that makes you feel the most comfortable. Just don't leave it for too long, we don't know what the consequences could be."

Oh, but Grace already knew what the consequences were. Sirius Black had obliviated her father when James had obliviated her mum and now her mum was dead, Sirius was dead, and Snape had no idea he was a father at all.

_Fuck._

\---******---

James watched Arthur hover too closely to Grace and clenched his teeth. He had to take this _slowly_, had to do this _right_. He _couldn't_ just jump in there and separate them.

She had kept Sirius on a pedestal for far too long, had kept him in her heart for far longer after his death than he had expected. It was time to break those chains. Time to dent Sirius' shiny armour.

He had known of Sirius' failsafe for a while now and it was past time to take care of the problem. With the way Arthur was eyeing him out of the corner of his eye, it was clear that Sirius had exploded at least one bomb: his identity. He would need to plan, would need a way to slowly gain Arthur's trust and council, make it seem natural that James' relationship with Grace would slide right past father-daughter after this revelation. They hadn't known each other very long after all, had they? And if James spun it correctly, then his Grace was still only a baby and this Grace was a stranger.

Perhaps he needed to wait to see which way Grace would fall first.

Perhaps he needed to make sure she fell the way he wanted her to fall.

Either way, after today Sirius Black would be only an afterthought to his Grace. A man she had once known.

James would make sure of it.

\---******---

Remus watched as James left with Arthur, Ginny, Fred, George, and most importantly, with Grace. It always came back to Grace.

James had been the start of the Marauders, had been the push they had all wanted to come together. The four of them had been neigh on inseparable. They each had their tiffs of course, irritations that made them all lose their tempers, but at the end of the day they were always family. One they had made and chosen, a camaraderie that belayed the pressure of the outside world. That it had fallen apart so spectacularly was something Remus had never fully understood. Had it started with Peter? Or had it been Sirius' careless behaviour?

James had finally settled down, had married and had a beautiful daughter. That hadn't lasted long, sadly enough. James had taken Remus aside one day and explained how Grace wasn't his daughter, how Lily had been seeing another but that when Grace had been born, his life had changed. At first he had confused that statement, had even been proud of how much James had stepped up and embraced his responsibilities in the face of a child. It wasn't until much later, after they had all been murdered, that Remus thought James might have been saying something else. It wasn’t until he saw Grace again in her third year that he had even remembered the conversation had ever happened.

Magic. Grace's magic had twined with James' and marked them both irrevocably. It had taken Remus months to research during Grace’s third year, years to understand after that, but he had. It was uncommon enough that Remus had to dive into the archives for the information, but when a magical being met another with the potential to match their own, magic chose its counter. It was a destined kind of magic that had made many think ‘predestined’ or ‘soulmate’. Remus believed in neither, but his wolf had howled ‘mate’ after Sirius had died and now he wavered.

Seeing James now, seeing him in the flesh the same age he had been when he had died...well, there were far too many mixed emotions to pick just one. Remus just kept on losing friends only to gain them and then lose them again. Was he waiting to lose James again as he had Sirius or was he waiting for something a bit more sinister? Like with Sirius? Waiting for a madness just under the skin to eat the man whole.

He had never fully understood why James had chosen Grace, not then, but he had fully understood why Sirius had. As twisted as it was Sirius could never ignore the need to take something of James', and Grace had been James' in all ways. It was something Sirius had never been able to touch.

Until he escaped Azkaban.

Remus had thought that with James dead and clearly out of the running Sirius would have let it go, but it had become clear that even in death James was still very much a player. He had been far too late to do anything about it other than slowly infiltrate their closed circle, getting close enough to Grace so he could plant some seeds of doubt and get her away from a very deranged Sirius.

Not that Sirius hadn't been his friend until the end. Just that what he had been doing to Grace had been...twisted. No doubt Azkaban had helped his twisted nature to become more pronounced, though he had hidden it well. It had been a blessing in disguise when Sirius died, no matter his personal distress over his best friends death.

Ever since Sirius had died, Remus had tried to be there for Grace. He wanted to make sure she would be alright, that she knew there were people around her she could rely on. He hadn't expected that his need to make sure Grace was safe and taken care of would translate to the wolf. In all fairness, he understood that Grace was the last remaining member of his pack and while Remus was part of the Order, it wasn't the same as pack. So when Remus shifted his focus onto Grace with the intent of safety and nurture, the wolf had translated that to potential mate. It made Remus uneasy.

Grace was only fifteen, almost sixteen, and in no way an option as a mate, despite how his wolf felt about the matter. He had held off on those feelings until _James bloody Potter_ had shown up out of the blue. James had come back from the dead, and instead of welcoming an old pack member back into the fold, the wolf had only seen a rival for Grace's affections.

Remus, struggling to keep the wolf contained, had spilled his guts to James and together they had hatched a plan, made allowances for the wolf and James had helped Remus think of a little white lie to tell Grace in regards to her parentage, had taken _Remus_ back into _James’ fold_ and made allowances for a potential relationship he wasn’t even sure he wanted.

Now, however, Moony was once more creating problems for Remus. The wolf was unhappy that James was essentially acting as their alpha, that James had stepped up as an alpha when he hadn't earned his place back in the pack and had staked his claim on their mate. James was not recognised as a leader and definitely not as a member of their pack. This man was a stranger to his wolf, and a threat to its mate.

"Remus." Albus stated as he swept into the room, disrupting Remus’ musing on how to handle this new problem with Moony. "My apologies for keeping you waiting."

"Not to worry, Albus." Remus waved away, turning to look at the headmaster as he made them both a cup of tea.

"I'm afraid I am short on time, however, so I hope you won't mind keeping this brief. What of James?" Albus asked as he sat down, his eyes intense and focused even as he handed Remus a fresh cup.

Remus knew what he was asking. Was Grace safe with the man who had cheated death? He sighed, not quite knowing how to answer that question. On the one hand, absolutely not. As teenagers James had been an odd combination of genuinely funny mixed with a cruelty that had rivalled Voldemort himself.

He had always known that James and Sirius had been closer than the rest of them, but he always figured that was because of their upbringing. Now though, he wondered if it wasn't because they were both attracted to the darkness that bled into all pureblood families. An old world filled with old magic which had its own unique ways of play and punishment.

That had been a lifetime ago though. Was the man who was here now the same as he had been as a child? No. This James was focused on Grace and making sure Grace was safe. His negotiations with Voldemort himself had proved that. Did that make James less of a threat to them all or more of one? Difficult to say without knowing the underlining reasons that drove a man like James.

So what would he tell Albus? That James was far more dangerous than any of them had expected? That he had already contacted Voldemort himself and not only managed to come to a cease-fire in regards to Grace but was also apparently trusted enough to council the madman? Which side would Remus choose?

"No." Remus said finally. "He's shown me nothing to be concerned with yet. His focus seems to be solely on Grace for the moment."

"And that does not concern you?" Albus pressed, no doubt wondering if James being so close to Grace would result in a problem.

Remus shook his head. "I haven't witnessed anything out of the ordinary. Grace has said on numerous occasions that she enjoys having a father figure in her life. He's been teaching her the ways of the wizarding world."

Albus sat back with a thoughtful look on his face. "The pureblood ways." He acknowledged with a sigh.

"The ways of magic." Remus corrected softly.

Albus sighed wearily as he looked back at Remus. "Yes. I suppose it is." He nodded. "Thank you Remus. If anything changes, please let me know."

"Do you think he means to bring us trouble?" Remus asked, genuinely curious as Albus stood and headed to the door.

"I think James has already brought us trouble, I'm just not sure which way it will fall.” Albus stated as he paused on his way out. “The only thing we can do currently is make sure Grace is safe. Without Grace, I fear the worst for all of us."

Remus nodded at Albus before the man made his exit. Remus might have silently agreed, but it was for a different reason entirely than what Albus probably thought. Without Grace, James would level the wizarding world for daring to put a finger on her.

\---******---

The swell had peaked and she had been steady. The darkness had surrounded her and she had been steady. Temptation boiled her blood and twisted her bones and she had been steady.

But the longing was a deep buried secret that liked the darkness. The longing wanted temptation to set fire to her blood.

The water ebbed.

The darkness crept into the places the light had protected.

She wavered.

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok? Good? Bad? Terrible? Let me know!


	6. Vote For Me and I'll Set You Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for all the lovely comments and kudos!! Can't tell you how much I squeal every time I read them! I'm terrible at replying so I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all here :):) So much love!!  
I hope everyone is being careful out there and staying as safe as possible!  
Also, I took a little creative license here and I hope it didn’t turn out horrible.  
Sorry about the wait, but I just couldn't get one part of it right and I refused to post until it came together!  
As always: mistakes were made and will be mocked forever.

Sirius.

Her Sirius.

Liar. Manipulator. Betrayer.

The man responsible for her living in a cupboard. The man responsible for her not knowing about magic until her eleventh birthday. The man responsible for her father hating her. The man responsible for her not having a father at all.

The man she had loved.

Betrayer. Manipulator. Liar.

Was she just supposed to accept this because she couldn’t confront him or change the past? Why had he written The-Girl-Who-Lived instead of her? What was in those letters that was important enough for him to go through the lengths he had?

From the piles of letters they had gone through yesterday (and the piles they had brought back) they had only found another seven. Mr. Weasley had been kind enough to stop his children from reading the rest of letters, handing them over to her with all the casualness of someone holding a bomb. It had certainly felt that way, only the bomb had already exploded and she was left picking up the pieces.

And Remus. What was she going to do about Remus? She knew she was going to have to have a proper conversation with him, but at the moment she only felt enough confused duplicity to keep well away from him. She needed to figure out where she stood and she needed to know where Sirius had left her.

Was her reaction to Remus coloured by Sirius or was he a separate issue altogether? She figured this was another one of those moments where only speaking with Remus would help her clear all of it up. She didn't have any answers and she wouldn't be able to find any on her own. As far as she could tell, and Remus had told her as much, he had jumped from job to job to job without a clear direction once his pack had been decimated. Only Grace had still been alive then, shouldn't he have looked for her? Shouldn't he have tried to be there for her? What had stopped him from reaching out? Was she not pack?

She didn't want to talk to Remus though. She didn't want to hear his reasoning because at the end of the day, she still hadn't met him until third year. Even then he had waited months before telling her the truth. For all the things he had done in the past, in his past, she couldn't hold him accountable, but she could hold him accountable for what he had done after he had known her. Perhaps she was angrier about that than she had realized and maybe she needed people not to backstab her so she wouldn't need to sort out her feelings about them.

So she would have to talk to Remus. She couldn't talk to Sirius though, and that was the one that was pressing on her the most. He had known all that time that Severus had been her father, had known all that time that she wasn't a Potter, and still let her continue living a lie. Had this been some strange competition with a then still dead James? Had she been only a game to him? She would easily say he hadn't been in his right mind since his escape. There were plenty of times she wondered who exactly he saw when he looked at her, wondered if he even knew himself when he got a little less sane.

But then why give her the Black Lordship? Even if she had married him, it wouldn't have given her the same position as she had now. Was there an ulterior motive to making Grace his heir?

Had he known he was going to die? The sad part of it all was that she would never know what he was thinking and all she had left now were tainted memories and trying to guess who Sirius had actually been and if their relationship had been real at all.

The emotional bombs aside, she now had an added problem to the still far too long list: Mr. Weasley. On the one hand it was kind of freeing to know there was someone out there who was aware of what was going on, even if they didn't know the whole story yet. On the other hand, she didn't want everything out in the open yet.

So, as a manoeuvre well earned by hours of practice and practical application, she did what any normal person would do in her situation: she avoided him like dragon pox. She was lucky enough to only have to do this during the weekends since he went to work during the week and hardly had any time to corner her on weeknights. So far she had been able to avoid him and the eventual questions she knew would pop up.

Most of all she wasn't ready to face Snape. She wasn't sure she wanted him to know who he actually was to her. Not after the past five years. Not after she had essentially accepted a courtship with his most hated rival. And lord, what did that say about her? That she didn't want her own father to know he was her father? Yes, he was a bully and yes, he had only upped the hatred with each passing year, but he was still her father. Still family. And she wanted that, but did she want Snape? Right now the answer was no.

If she did want him around and gathered up enough courage to tell him (and then show him since he wouldn't believe her), he would no doubt take control of her life and that was something she couldn't abide by. She had spent years on her own, learned to be the only person she needed and was happy to have friends on top of that. Snape would take that all away. He would take her autonomy right from under her and force her compliance. So the only thing she had left on her side right now was to doge Mr. Weasley and pray he didn't let anything slip to Snape in the meantime.

The thing was, and she had said this before, that she was getting increasingly tired of having her trust broken. First Ron and Hermione, then Sirius, then Ron and Hermione again, then Sirius after his death and no way to explain himself, and now Remus. She had placed her trust in these people time and again but when she needed them the most, they decided she wasn't worth it. So far, and it wasn't saying all too much since she had only known him a few weeks, James was the only one who hadn't broken that trust.

She didn't want to be put in the position where she constantly forced to wonder if what people were saying and doing in regards to her person would come back and stab her in the back. It was exhausting. What she needed to do was be pro-active about the whole thing to prevent things like this from happening. And all right, in a normal everyday sort of world, little things like with Ron and Hermione didn't mean all that much in the grand scheme of things. During war, however, it felt like life and death. She just needed to figure out how to protect herself and then she'd be set.

Only now she had the means to do just that. She was a Lord, twice over, she had power, she had prestige, and she had money. She didn't need to wait until she was of age to rid herself of the Dursley's. She didn't need to be of age to claim her birthright. She didn't need to wait for men who thought they had power over her to act kindly and give her what was already hers. She didn't owe anyone anything, she didn't belong to anyone, and she damn sure didn't need to prove anything anymore. She was starting to learn exactly what standing on her own two feet meant and, despite everything that came with that, she relished not needing to rely on another person ever again. She was free. Or well, as close to it as she could possibly get while still in school.

Nevertheless, she had things to do. More things to do. At some point today she was going to confront Remus, read more letters from strangers who thanked a baby for not succumbing to an Avada Kedavra, read the rest of the letters they had found from Sirius, go over her various estates, and...well no, that was enough for one day. Which was also part of the reason she was up early and going over her estates and trying to figure out if she could do what she wanted to do.

After her conversation with James it had come to her attention that, if handled correctly, she could just hand the minor Houses over to other people. She hoped she could just give them away but she wanted to give them away to people who would not only understand what she was handing them, but would also build a legacy for their future line. Which meant half-bloods who grew up in the muggle world and muggleborns.

When James had pointed out the rift, it hadn't really occurred to her that she might be someone who could help, not necessarily heal the rift, but maybe soften it a little. And wasn't that a little arrogant to think? Frankly, what she really wanted was to be rid of the extra stress of having all those Houses under her name. If something good came out of that, well, so be it.

She had been so focused on what she was doing that she hadn't quite realized that someone else had joined her in the kitchen. She only noticed it was James when he placed a fresh cup of tea next to her. She looked up to the clock and realized she had been working for over two hours and she was due a very well deserved break.

"I've been thinking about that House problem I talked to you about earlier." Grace started, well aware that they only had twenty minutes of peace at the latest before the rest of the house would wake up and trudge into the kitchen. These early mornings (and afternoons if she hid herself well enough) were the only moments she had to go over her estates in the privacy that was needed.

"Which problem was that? The one where you are overwhelmed by the responsibilities attached to each House or that you have no idea what you are doing?" James asked as he set his own tea down on the table across from her before sitting down.

"Don't have to say it like that, fuck." Grace mumbled with an offended frown.

James smirked as he blew softly on his tea. "I apologize."

"Don't pretend you're sorry. Nevermind that now, I have important news. I'm giving them away." She announced with a frown even as she set her shoulders against the tirade she knew she would be getting for her decision.

James choked on his tea, sloshing some of it over his cup and burning his fingers. "Excuse me?"

"Look, of the thirty-four Houses only two actually belong to me, and those happen to be the two I'm currently Lord to. That means that I can give away thirty-two of them and have a much better stress-free life. You know, as stress-free as it can possibly get at this point." She added as she stood up and grabbed a towel so she could help him clean up the mess.

James stayed silent as he watched her and contemplated what she was telling him. She appreciated that since she hardly had anyone in her life that took the time to really listen to what she said.

"It's too much." He said finally, acknowledging what she was trying to tell him without actually saying the words.

Grace's shoulders sagged in relief. "Even if I gave you the power of attorney to take care of the minor Houses, I still have final say. All of them have different needs according to House rules and I can't keep track of them. Eventually I'll make a mistake that will cost me dearly and I don't want the responsibility of that eventuality."

"That's very reasonable of you." James stated as he gently pushed her back to her seat and threw the towel onto the chair next to him.

"That's not what I'm looking for, I don't need you to validate me." Grace objected immediately.

While it was nice to have someone listen to her for once, it was another thing entirely to have someone tell her 'good job'. That had well and truly been erased by the Dursley's and it wasn't something she looked for now.

"So why are you telling me?" He asked calmly, taking a sip of tea while she gathered her thoughts.

It had been a long time since she had been able to have a conversation with someone that simply listened to her instead of taking over and telling her what she needed to do. It wasn't a great leap to know why she jumped into things headfirst and became stubborn when she felt she wasn't being heard.

"I'm telling you because I need your help." James motioned for her to continue. "I need you to find witches and wizards that have either no standing or no family, or both, that could benefit from having a minor House."

James' eyebrows rose in surprise. "That's quite the gift." He said neutrally.

She smiled sardonically. "It's not a gift if I want to be rid of the extra work load. Considering the responsibilities I'm dumping on them, I seriously doubt they should see it as a gift either."

"I think," he said finally, "that I can help."

"There's a problem isn't there?" She asked sinking back into her chair.

"Not a problem necessarily, more of a catch. Neither the goblins nor the Ministry would be happy with you just handing out Houses once they catch on to what you are doing, and trust me, they will find out. What you need to do is write up a contract that states that they can accept the Houses under the condition that they follow your Houses for a hundred years in return for the honour of their own House. It’s an easy way around any argument of simply handing out Houses if you are adding a caveat to it."

"It would have to be one of the two Houses since I doubt I'll be alive in a hundred years and my children would each have a House and their wishes might not align. Not that they exactly align right now anyway." She mumbled with disgust.

James nodded at the suggestion. "Excellent point."

"What do you mean by following my House?" Grace asked, bringing herself back to the conversation and not her growing anger at people who always thought they knew better than the person in question. "Politically or financially?"

James smiled at her in a way that made her think he was proud of her, although what he would be proud of left her baffled. "Politically. They may not all have a voting seat on the Wizengamot but those that do would help you in your political endeavours. More so if you gift those Houses to people who intend to make something of themselves and need a House to do so."

"Why would I even want those?" Grace asked aghast. Wasn't it enough that she had these responsibilities, now she had to be responsible for the voting ways of the very Houses she was trying to get rid of?

"Because it's part of your heritage. If you were married you could assign the seats over to your husband so that you wouldn't have to deal with the politics of it all. Seeing as you are not married, it falls to you to step up and represent an important part of our history. You cannot give something of this value away for free; it's simply not done. You need a price and in this particular case the price would be their votes when it matters. No work, all the rewards."

Grace almost wailed at the injustice of it all. The only thing in the world she wanted was to be left alone to build a life she wanted. Everywhere she turned she was shoved more responsibilities and she was about ready to combust. Part of her also objected heavily at the thought that she would just hand over her responsibilities over to her husband. What was this, the 1300's? And if he thought for even a second that she would be giving up the power she had gained, he had another thing coming.

"You realize you would be losing quite a bit of money?" James added after a short silence where he observed her trying hard to not bash her skull open on the table.

"I've never had much to begin with." Grace started slowly, trying to explain something she was sure James could never understand. "The amount of money I inherited is obnoxious, even after giving away thirty-two Houses. I know how to invest and I know how to save money for my future without currently having a job or expenses. I have two more years of Hogwarts before I have to deal with any of that so I have an opportunity to play around right now. The money doesn't mean anything to me because I have no idea how much it is." James raised an eyebrow in question and irritated Grace with the knowledge that she knew it was a question. "I have far too many properties, I have money, I have house-elves. I can build a life for myself without ever getting a job." She clarified.

James nodded in acceptance. "So you would like to give someone who wouldn't have these advantages otherwise a chance to rise in the ranks, so to speak."

"Yes and no. I'd to give the muggleborns a chance to actually be in our world, the way I'm learning right now. I want to bridge that gap between us without breaking any of the rules I've been bound by."

James raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You're speaking of changing our world. Having a bridge to close the gap between the muggleborns and the purebloods."

Grace hesitated, struggling between her selfish desires of giving away a responsibility she never wanted and helping people who never knew what they were doing wrong. "Yes."

James studied her. "Alright." He said slowly. "We can do that."

"We?" She asked hopefully.

James snorted as he leaned back in his seat. "You and I are bound, in more ways than one. Even if I had disapproved, you would have found some way to do it anyway and I find myself rather intrigued by what you are going to do."

"So you don't agree?" Grace frowned in confusion.

"No, I agree, I simply meant that you are a force of nature and you are changing everything around you by simply being who you are. It's admirable." James stated as he lifted his cup and drank from it, his eyes smiling in a way she couldn’t get enough of.

"Do I need a lawyer to set up the contracts?" She asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Yes. I suspect that House Black has their own attorneys so you should probably check into that before you go shopping around."

She froze in shock when something occurred to her. "Hang on, the Black family have their own attorneys?"

"Well, not in the sense that they own a whole army of attorneys, no. Simply that they have a firm that they've worked with since, well, I wouldn't actually know how long. Every titled House tends to have attorneys at their beck and call." James informed her with a casual shrug.

Grace cleared her throat in an attempt to kill the butterflies springing up in her stomach. "So, hypothetically speaking, if I had a small property dispute and the goblins had their own attorneys jump on the case, would that be offensive?"

James raised his eyebrows in interest but answered her question instead of asking his. "If the goblins sent their own attorneys, no. It usually means the situation requires more of a heavy hand and no attorney worth their salt would argue against a goblin attorney from handling the case instead."

"So it's not, say, a slight against your personal attorneys that you didn't know existed?"

James looked at her in bemusement. "Not when the goblins are involved. What have you been caught up in?" He asked interestedly, not really expecting an answer since he knew some things were directed in House and not up for discussion.

Grace sighed deeply. "So it's not one of those 'I unintentionally offended you and now I have to make reparations despite not knowing what I did wrong as to avoid an everlasting feud'?"

James chuckled. "Not in the least. No one is yet aware that you have taken up a Lordship and since you are not of age yet, you have some leeway."

Grace let out a relieved breath. "Well thank gods for that."

"Which brings me to a rather important note." James said as he shuffled forward in his seat and braced his arms on the table before looking at her.

"Can you keep it to yourself?" Grace asked nervously.

"Not if you want to be taken seriously." He replied solemnly.

Grace sighed loudly and obnoxiously, hoping he'd be annoyed with her antics and drop the whole thing altogether. "Go on then." She said with a magnanimous wave of her hand when he refused to budge. It may have been childish, but she was allowed to be that since she, technically, was still one.

"The Wizengamot and the Lord Council."

She frowned in thought, only knowing of the Wizengamot but knowing (or having heard of) the Lord Council. "I know what one is, what's the other?"

James’ lips twitched. "I think it might help if you told me which one you know of."

"Oh right." Grace blushed. "Erm, the Wizengamot."

James nodded. "Lord Council is somewhat the same, just on a different level."

"Teach me, oh great one!" Grace mocked, amusement dancing in her eyes.

"I am great but keep that cheek in check." James warned playfully as Grace grinned unrepentantly. "The Wizengamot primarily handles our laws. Reviewing them, making new ones, adding to them, changing them, anything that is necessary."

Grace nodded. "Right, but they also deal with trials and crimes." She said, full well remembering her own sham of a trial and Crouch's more serious one.

"In a sense. Usually there is another court specifically for that sort of thing, handling the minor cases and the slightly more serious ones. The cases that wind up in the newspapers are usually the ones the Wizengamont handle because of either the severity of the crime or the popularity of the crime."

"Popularity?" She asked, scrunching up her nose in distaste. "So a petty thief would get the full Wizengamont because he's in the paper?"

James cocked his head in consideration. "Not quite. He would get the full Wizengamont if he was in the paper and his particular story was followed closely and the people were invested in the outcome."

"But why?" Grace asked baffled. "Is that also why I was put in front of the Wizengamot then?"

James' face darkened significantly. "No. That should have never happened and was only a disgusting power play that Fudge shouldn't have been allowed to do. As to why," James continued after he took a few seconds to breathe, "mostly it's for show. The population needs to believe in the power of the Wizengamot. That's also the reason they take on the larger and more heavily penalized crimes."

"Like in the first war." Grace said with sudden understanding. "They couldn't trust the Ministry anymore but the Wizengamot stands outside of Ministry influence, so if they showed themselves coming down hard on the Death Eaters, people would still feel safe and the confidence in the Wizengamot would never be questioned."

James' eyes blazed with pride. "You catch on a lot quicker than they give you credit for."

She rolled her eyes, a small smile still playing on her lips. "Don’t need your praise."

"I’ll keep giving it you regardless." James stated mildly and snorted at the un-amused look she shot him. "Do you know of your own position and obligation in the Wizengamot?"

Grace sighed deeply as she leaned back in her chair. "I had better. Nagnok practically ordered me to." James frowned at that. "What? Is that weird?"

James hummed in consideration. "Perhaps a little. Goblins and wizards don't go together. Goblins frequently refuse to acknowledge wizard law since not only are they 'less' in our eyes but also because they have their own governing body."

Grace thought about that. "Like if France wanted us to follow their laws while we have our own?"

"Yes. So for a goblin to not only encourage you to take your seat but also to push you to learn about the Wizengamot is...odd."

"Ulterior motive?" Grace pondered, wondering what Nagnok would get out of it if she did take up her seat.

James shrugged lightly. "Most likely, and also one we probably will never know of."

"Goblins." She uttered with feeling.

"Goblins indeed. Now, the Wizengamot has about fifty members at all times, never more but sometimes less. Most of the major titled Houses always have at least one or two seats, depending on their history. The Ministry felt this was unfair to the majority of the population and voted in a selection of people from their own departments."

"Meaning what? You have the purebloods but then also, say, the head of a department just in case they get too focused on preserving the pureblood ways?"

“Not exactly. That may have been one of the excuses they used to gain entrance, but at the base of it the Ministry wanted a say in what happened during the meetings." He amended slightly.

"And they don't actually have a say then?" Grace wondered as she thought back to how much power Fudge had had over the entire thing.

James hummed thoughtfully. "Not really, no. The majority of the Wizengamot is still made up of Purebloods."

"But the sacred twenty-eight are only twenty-eight." Grace pointed out.

James laughed. "The 'sacred twenty-eight' are made up of families who boast about having only wizarding blood. The Potter line, for example, has had a couple of muggleborns and half-bloods mixed in so we're out of the sacred twenty-eight but still in the Wizengamot."

She sighed deeply and figured it was all basically the same thing. "Is this the same as all the Purebloods knowing each other and basically having the same thoughts about certain subjects?"

"A little oversimplified, but not wrong." James snorted, clearly amused by her simplification.

"So how many Purebloods are in the Wizengamot?" Grace wondered.

James took a deep breath. "It's been a fair few years since I've last been, but from what I've looked up it consists of about thirty-four Purebloods and sixteen Ministry employees."

"Haven't they noticed the divide?"

"The Ministry?" James questioned. At Grace's nod he continued. "Most of the time they should, but I believe they've long since stopped caring. Usually the Chief Warlock along with the Minister for Magic go through a list of applicants and choose from there. Fudge being both was...frankly a despicable act of power mongering." He ended with a disgusted look on his face. “The fact that the rest of the Wizengamot went along with it is tantamount to treachery truthfully.”

She decided to ignore the last part because, honestly, it wasn’t as if they could do anything about it. "Why was Umbridge there then?"

He looked at her in confusion. "Umbridge?"

"The Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and the worst woman to ever breathe the same air as we do." Grace stated harshly.

"Quite harsh." James replied, amused once again.

Grace snorted. "You've never met her."

"Hm. Well, the Minister for Magic, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement usually take part in any kind of Wizengamot gathering, be it a trial or a general meeting."

"Usually?" She questioned.

"The majority of the Wizengamot is made up of primarily the older wizards of our world.” James explained patiently. “They care very little for change and only show up when something seems to threaten their way of life."

"So how will I be allowed to join them?"

"Well you won't." He stated, watching her for any kind of reaction.

"I-Hang on there, of course I will!" Grace spluttered out indignantly.

James chuckled. "Yes, you will. When you become of age. No one below the age of seventeen is allowed on the Wizengamot. Most purebloods who have their children take over for them still hold on to their seats while their children take over the brunt of the Lordship responsibilities."

"So they still have influence without all the pesky paperwork. Lucky bastards." She mumbled quietly, hoping one day to do the same to her children.

James nodded. "Essentially. You being so young and not only taking up your Lordship but also accepting your seat on the Wizengamot will stir things up."

"Won't you do that just by existing?" She couldn’t help but point out.

James laughed delightedly. "I'd like to think so, but wizards are a peculiar lot."

Grace processed all he had told her and then frowned as a thought occurred to her. "So is there a reason you're telling me all this?"

"During the Wizengamont of August, I would like to reveal myself to the public." He announced, a mixture of pride and excitement blooming through every word.

Grace frowned. "And to do that you need to let me know how everything works?"

"I do not, but I would like to take you with me. It will give you a chance to observe how a meeting works and what your future roll will be once you graduate."

Grace rolled her eyes. "That's not up to you. Whether I take up my seat or not is House discretion, thank you very much."

"Maybe I wanted someone with me I could trust." James replied slyly.

"Nice try, but you're a terrible liar. I'll think about it. So is the Lord Council like the Wizard's Council?" She asked, going back to the original question.

James shook his head but allowed her to change the subject. "No and yes. The Wizard's Council was the fore runner of both our Ministry and the Wizengamot as we know it today, but the Lord Council came into play when the Ministry wanted to be part of the Wizengamot."

"So the Purebloods didn't like sharing?" Grace snorted. “Who would have guessed?”

"You truly have a way with words." James replied rolling his eyes. "The ministry has become a haven for many of the muggleborn and half-bloods that know little to nothing of our world. They find a place in the most wizarding spot they can think of and breathe a sigh of relief that they get to stay in our world."

"So?" Grace wondered, not seeing how that would relate to anything they were discussing.

"So the Wizengamot slowly became infiltrated by muggleborns and half-bloods who know nothing of how our world is run." James gently explained.

"Enter the Lord Council." Grace guessed, seeing how it would have come about even without James’ not so subtle guiding.

James nodded. "Only Lords are able to partake in the Lord Council and they can discuss our world freely without the inclusion of those who don't understand."

Grace frowned. "So what you're saying is that the Lord Council is exactly like the Wizengamot but without the power to back them up?"

"Not at all. They all have power to their names in one way or another. No, the Lord Council comes together to decide in which direction our world should head in."

She blinked slowly at that. "As in they decided to follow Voldemort so most of the purebloods did?"

James hesitated. "Think of it as a clandestine group who work together to make the changes necessary for our continued survival."

"So Voldemort." Grace reiterated blandly.

"They chose to follow him, I chose to believe in him because he wasn't wrong in his thinking. We want to protect our culture, our rituals, our rich and vibrant history and these Lords make sure that happens." James explained, ignoring her huff of aggravation.

"And now because I'm a Lord I'll be a part of that?" She guessed.

"Not necessarily. By giving away your minor Houses to the very people that feel apart from our world you will gain some notice. Whether you meant to do that or not won't matter. You will be scrutinized because you are giving them an option that has never occurred to the rest of us."

A sudden thought popped into Grace's head. "Are _you_ part of the Lord Council?"

"I am. Or, I was before I died." He amended with a slightly thoughtful look, no doubt wondering if he would still be in it now that he wasn't dead anymore.

"And how many people are on there?"

"Lords, not people.” He correctly. “Around forty-eight."

Grace wondered how that many people could get together and no one have any idea of its existence yet. "You know, for a clandestine group that's a pretty high number."

James nodded. "The number is high because we all care about our world."

"And Voldemort is officially a problem now." Grace felt the need to point out.

"No, he was a problem almost sixteen years ago, now he's just a nuisance we can't get rid of."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"I'm telling you this because there is more than one way to win a war."

"What? Death and murder not included?"

"Your snark is not appreciated." He said with a twitch of his lips.

Grace grinned at him and shrugged. "I dunno, I like it."

"Needless to say, I would like to bring you with me to the August gathering of the Wizengamot and if the Lord Council comes into play after that, at least you will be prepared."

Grace took a minute to think it through. He wasn’t wrong in the sense that it would help her to know how it all worked before she actually needed to be there and when her votes actually mattered, but she didn’t really want to go. On the other hand, if he did intend to ‘out’ himself, it would cause a stir and she did really love it when there was drama surrounding people that weren’t her.

"I think," she said slowly, "that I'd like to come with you. Mostly because I want to know what I'll be forced to do during those meetings but also because I really want to see what happens after you declare yourself not dead."

"I live to amuse you." He deadpanned.

"Hey. Question. Did you tell Professor Dumbledore about what you're going to do?" Grace asked as soon as the thought popped up.

James raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Did I have to? I was unaware that he was my parent and I had to double check my actions with him."

Grace rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I didn't mean that, I meant because you live here, in Order headquarters."

"Why on earth would that matter? Besides, I'm not actually part of the Order and once I declare myself not dead I can move about freely without being at Albus' mercy. So to speak." James amended with a thoughtful look.

She looked at him in shock. "You're not part of the Order?"

"I'm not trusted yet." He reminded her gently. He let her sit in silence before he cleared his throat to get her attention. "I did want to speak with you about something else. A little more serious, actually." James started slowly, as if he was already walking on broken ice in the middle of a lake.

"Alright." She replied, just as cautious.

James tapped his finger against his teacup in agitation as he looked at her. "I know what I have to say will not come across very well and I'd like you not to fly off the handle before I get it all out."

Grace frowned and leaned back in her seat. "That's...ominous."

"I would like you to see a mind healer." He rushed out in a single breath.

Grace froze in place. "A mind...what?"

"A mind healer. Someone that specializes in helping someone sort through-" James started, looking almost relieved at having to explain something.

"Yes. I know exactly what you meant.” Grace interrupted, her anger slowly seeping through. “What I don't understand is why you would even bring it up, let alone ask me to see one."

"I didn't start this conversation lightly." James told her evenly, taking her anger in stride, almost as if he had been expecting it. "You've been through far too much for someone your age and I doubt anyone thought of having a professional help you sort it all out."

Grace wavered heavily between anger, disbelief, and relief that someone was willing to help her. She had known for a long while that she wasn't handling everything in the best way possible and the fact that she was sent from one unsafe environment to the next had given her quite a few quirks that indicated deeper issues.

She also knew that she didn't want anyone else knowing about these issues nor that she wanted to deal with them at all. She would deal with it all when it was over, when Voldemort was dead and gone and her life wouldn't constantly be on the line because one adult after the other considered her fit for the job at hand. What right did James have to come into her life and shake everything up? What gave James the right to tell her what to do? What right did he have to even ask this of her?

She knew she was slowly working up a temper but also recognised that it was mostly due to fear. They had had a conversation or two about Sirius and how important he had been to her, but nothing to indicate that James thought she needed to seek out a professional. Did he know something she hadn’t told him? Her mind flashed back to when she first arrived and Moony had told James that she was injured. She had practically laughed it off but now she worried if James had seen something she hadn’t been able to hide.

"When was the last time you had your bleeding?" James pressed on when she didn't answer.

"_Excuse me_?!" Grace practically spat out, both thrown for a loop and extremely defensive.

This was not something that was talked about so casually. In the muggle world it was different because not only were they more modern in their thinking, but they also didn't have to deal with any fluctuation of power while dealing with their monthly menstruation. For witches, some days their magic was too powerful, some days merely a trickle, and others it flowed just like it always did. It had nothing to do with power and everything to do with being a woman.

It was also the one time (per month that is) that they were fairly vulnerable since you could never be quite certain which way your power would fall. Most witches therefore decided to travel in packs since safety often times meant numbers. When they were at home it was usually a father, a brother, or a husband's task to shield any witches that fell under their care. It was typically seen as a point of pride to protect a witch this way because it showed the world that a vulnerable witch was willing to (sometimes quite literally) put her life in their hands.

For Grace it was another point of anger. She had no idea what to expect from her period because Petunia, like with everything else, was a right bitch and refused to help her. Her only education was from her schooling before Hogwarts and she was lucky enough have had some lessons on the female anatomy before everything went magical. When she got to Hogwarts, there weren't exactly classes for this sort of thing because it was seen as 'delicate' and the topic would have usually already been breached by family members before a girl went to Hogwarts.

Grace had no idea how Hermione had figured it all out, but Mrs. Weasley had taken her aside during the summer before her third year and told her some of the basics. She hadn't quite understood the point but was happy and grateful the older witch had taken the time to explain the differences to her between muggle and witch thinking.

"There are things you should already know, but it doesn't look like you do." James interrupted again, watching her like a feral beast.

Grace didn’t even want to hold back her anger anymore. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? And where the hell are you going with this?" She spat out.

"Didn't another witch bring you into the fold?" He pressed despite knowing he was treading in dangerous waters.

"'Into the fold'? What year is this, exactly? The 1200's? And Mrs. Weasley gave me more than enough advice, thank you very much." Grace mocked, leaning well away from him now and staring at him with anger burning in her eyes.

James cleared his throat and continued. "Mrs. Weasley has her own daughter and family traditions that she wouldn't share with you."

"And what's that supposed to mean? She said I was practically her own daughter."

James raised an eyebrow. "A daughter she would allow to flounder the way you have?"

Grace felt the world freeze around her. "You're out of line." She stated dangerously.

"I think I'm precisely where I'm meant to be." He returned, far too easily for her liking.

"So you're about to tell me you're a woman?" Grace sneered.

"Hardly, but I do have a female friend with only a son that could help you in ways Mrs. Weasley has so far declined."

She rolled her eyes. "Right, and who is this witch then?"

"Lady Narcissa Malfoy." He replied, leaning in as if to emphasis the urgency.

Grace's eyes grew large in shock and she felt her mouth drop open in disbelief. "You're kidding me right?"

"Not in the least. She runs in the pureblood circles and would be willing to help you."

"Are...are you actually saying that you went to another person, without my permission, and told them all about my period, without my expressed permission, and told them I'd need help?"

James seemed to think something was wrong, but couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong. "Of course. You need the help, she likes helping."

"So you thought, hey, let's ask the mother of the child who has bullied me since I was eleven, who's husband literally wants me dead, you want to hand me over to that woman?" Grace asked sarcastically, wondering if he had finally lost the fucking plot.

"That right there." James pointed out in an aggravated tone.

She grit her teeth in annoyance. "What?"

"That is the very reason you need to speak to someone."

"And why is that exactly? Because you know better? Because you just walked into my life a second ago and you think you have all the answers? Because you've decided what was best for me and now you expect me to just accept it? Because you want to know about my personal and intimate issues? Because you think you have the right to tell me anything at all?" Grace ranted at him.

"Because I care enough about you to help you." James replied gently, clearly ignoring the anger, which only made her all the more irritated.

"Are you saying that none of the people in this house care enough about me?" Grace challenged, her anger growing by the second with James' continued jabs.

She wasn't a fucking project, and she wasn't on the verge of some kind of perpetual breakdown. In the grand scheme of things, she'd only known James a handful of weeks and that wasn't near enough time for him to push the way he was. He didn't have the right to demand or ask anything of her. Didn't have the right to intrude on her private business the way he was. He most certainly didn't have the right to go to someone she didn't know and most certainly did not trust and divulge something that personal! What the fuck was he playing at?

James reached across the table and grabbed her right hand, this thumb stroking along the words gouged into her skin. "How did you get these Grace?"

"What are you doing?" She asked almost stoically as she hid her surprise and apprehension at the sudden change in conversation, the only movement was her arm trying to tug her hand back.

James tightened his grip without hurting her, but clearly letting her know that he wasn’t going to let go. "The adults don't seem to know that they exist and your friends refuse to say. How did you get these scars Grace?"

Her veins turned to ice as fear surged through her blood. "You've crossed one too many lines today, Lord Potter." She stated calmly, wondering how she had been able to keep her voice that steady.

"Do not get defensive with me, I'm trying to help." James chided her.

Grace grit her teeth and yanked her hand again, surprising him enough to lose his grip. "I don't need your help, I've never needed your help! I survived fifteen years without you and if I have to, I'll survive the rest of my life without you too." She stated viciously.

"You need my help because you won't even admit that you were abused!" James shouted, frustrated beyond belief to the point of lashing out.

The silence between them was deafening.

"That's not just intrusive, that's overstepping your bounds Lord Potter." Grace stated in a hard voice. "Fuck. You." Grace snarled before shoving her chair back and storming out of the room, not even stopping when he tried to get her to stop and her magic lashed out and threw him against the wall.

She just couldn't understand how their conversation had gotten out of hand so quickly but the fact was that it had and now she had to deal with the fallout. James Potter knew the one secret she had never divulged, the one secret she had vowed she would never let another living soul know about, and now it was out in the open for all to see. How dare he? _How dare he_? What right did he have to fuck with her life like this? What fucking right did he have to presume he could even bring up the subject?

She didn’t need him, she hadn’t needed him when she was locked in the cupboard under the stairs, she hadn’t needed him when she was locked up in Dudley’s second bedroom, and she sure as fuck didn’t need him now that she was never going back there again. He wasn’t allowed to make any demands of her, he wasn’t allowed to tell her she needed to see someone, he wasn’t allowed to tell her she was abused because he didn’t fucking know anything!

He hadn’t been there when she was in that hell and he didn’t have any proof that she was actually being abused. So how had he found out? How had he known? Would he tell anyone? Would the Order find out? Would the rest of the world find out? Was she going to open the Prophet tomorrow and see her woes splashed out across the front page for everyone to enjoy?

This was her life and this was her choice, he didn’t get a bloody say in it and if she didn’t want to talk to anyone then she wasn’t going to talk to anyone. The fact that he thought she should just threw more fuel onto the flames. Right now she couldn’t even stomach seeing him, but there was another person who needed to feel her ire and there was no time like the present.

She was so unbelievably angry that she didn’t even stop to apologize to Ron for clipping him as she stormed out of the room and away from James.

\---******---

Ron wasn't an idiot. In many ways he was, sure, but mostly he wasn't. He knew, for instance, that Grace didn't love him. He also knew that Grace had never considered Ron as an option before and that was only because she'd never been able to see him as anything more. This summer was supposed to be his chance. He'd flirt a little with Hermione to show Grace how attentive he could be and then slowly give her time to adjust to seeing him as something more than a friend. Not too much time, mind, but enough. She just needed to see him in a different light, a light that said 'boyfriend possibility' instead of 'best friend'.

But then Potter had happened. The man was everywhere and he refused to leave Grace alone and instead of having enough time where she could see that he was a better option than the rest of Hogwarts, he now had to fight for her to even notice him at all. Not to mention that she was pissed at him for one reason or another. Women were complicated. He figured she'd have been over it by now if it weren’t for Potter sticking his nose in where it didn't belong.

Ron was pissed now. No matter where he looked, no matter how many times he found himself alone with Grace, it only took mere seconds before Potter popped up from somewhere to ruin everything and take her away again. It was like he didn't want Ron around Grace. Father or no father, he was too _interested_ in Grace.

And he knew what the others thought about him, what they thought of his suspicions, but he didn't care. Potter was trying to keep Grace to himself and Ron knew it was because Potter wanted Grace all to himself. He saw the stupid looks he'd give her when she wasn't looking, he saw the way Potter watched her every move. It was creepy! The guy was creepy. Not even his father believed him though, and his mother had told him to leave them alone.

Leave them alone! _No. Way._ Who knew what Potter would do to Grace? Grace who hadn't gone on a single date (Cedric didn't count). Sure, she was part of the whole 'Pureblood' culture but she never really acted like it. Not like Hermione who was starting to act like a stuck up witch more and more. Merlin that girl was irritating. He couldn't wait to be rid of her once he and Grace got together and need more 'us time'. Maybe she'd get the hint and leave them alone. He'd never have to listen to her berate him for doing his homework on his own time instead of hers.

All that was for later though, now he had to find a way to get Potter out of the picture so he could have his shot with Grace again. Maybe he could get the twins to actually help him this time? Or maybe have Ginny help him out since he had overheard her saying that Potter was actually a good-looking bloke.

He hadn't been able to figure out a good plan, let alone people to help him out, but today he had finally seen the silver lining again. Potter and Grace were fighting, a big one too if what he heard was true (not that he had heard much, but her parting words said more than enough in his opinion). Grace hated when people put their noses into her business and Potter had just stepped into it. Which of course meant that Ron needed to let Grace blow off some steam before he went in and finally claimed what had been owed to him after all his hard work. Grace had to give him a chance; he just had to get there before Potter could insert himself again.

Time was of the essence.

\---******---

"Remus!" Grace yelled at the top of her lungs after clipping Ron on the shoulder.

She knew that talking to him right now was probably one of the worst ideas she'd had yet, but she couldn't seem to stop herself. She wasn't some simpering ninny waiting by the door to be told what to do and what to feel. She'd been lied to her whole life, she'd had upheaval after upheaval and after what James just tried to pull, she was _done_.

She didn't want to stew in uncertainty anymore; she didn't want to wonder if Remus was being genuine. She wanted _reasons_, she wanted _explanations_ and Remus was damn well going to give them to her.

"Grace?" Remus asked, popping out of his room and looking at her with worried eyes.

"We need to talk." She stated determinedly, pushing him back into his room and shutting the door behind them before putting up a silencing ward.

"Alright." Remus replied, a little bemused.

"Why didn't you look for me?" She said as soon as she faced him again.

"Look for you?" He parroted, the bemusement changing to a light confusion.

Grace didn't appreciate the look and went straight for the heart of the problem. "After Wormtail betrayed mum and James, after I was left an orphan, why didn't you come find me?"

Remus' face fell, guilt falling around his shoulders and making them sag under the weight as he realized what she was asking. "I wanted to." He confessed quietly.

"But you didn't." She felt like she had to state the obvious in order to prompt him to continue. She didn't like that she even had to do that, that she needed to push and prod him in order for her to get the truth out of him. She let a little bit of that resentment linger as she looked at him expectantly.

Remus looked away from her in shame. "No. I didn't."

Grace grit her teeth and balled her hands into fists. "Why not?"

"Why not." Remus repeated on a sigh. "I went to Albus after the news reached me. I was with the werewolf packs trying to persuade them to change sides and I was out of touch with the ‘real’ world for a few days. The news reached us eventually, it always does, but by that time you were safely behind blood wards."

"So you didn't even try?" Was she heartbroken? She didn't feel heartbroken, she felt irritated and alone, angry at two men who had let her down in ways she hadn’t seen coming.

"You were only a year old. It was easier to let you grow up without the knowledge of what happened to your parents than to have you growing up with that knowledge."

"That's a shit answer." She told him bluntly.

"Albus told us about his wishes for you to grow up without the weight of the wizarding world on your shoulders. I agreed." Remus explained, finally looking up at her with beseeching eyes that she ignored.

"But you still could have visited!" She exclaimed as her resentment tinged her tone.

"And done what, exactly?" Remus retorted, getting a little angry himself now.

"See me, talk to me, something, anything!" Grace stated as she waved her arms about, hoping it would drive her point across that even a little would have been worth the world to her.

"And what good would that have done?” Remus replied angrily. “You would have grown up wishing to be a part of the world you knew nothing of! They were your living relatives and had rights over you that I would never have had. I’m a _werewolf_." He emphasised as if that explained everything.

It would have been better than growing up with the Dursley's, Grace wanted to scream at him. It would have been better than thinking you were the neighbourhood criminal. It would have been better than getting beat up every day for as long as she could remember. All he had to do was just come by once and he would have known. He would have known and he could have gotten her out of there, but he didn't, and she couldn't say any of that because he still didn't know. None of them knew the truth of that house of horrors and she would be damned if she told him now. James and his behaviour aside, Remus had left her there to rot and hadn't even given her the decency of pretending to check in.

"So you never checked up on me." Grace finally asked, breaking the small silence that had fallen between them as both of them reigned in their irritation and rage.

"I never knew where you were." He replied softly.

Translation: I never bothered to look. "And third year? Why did you wait so long to tell me?"

"At first it was because I wasn't sure you didn't already know. Later because it had already been months. I was ashamed, Grace. It had been years and then suddenly you were in front of me. I didn't know what to say, how to bring up the subject." Remus implored.

"You could have just started with the truth." Remus reached out to touch her, maybe to sooth or maybe to reconnect with her but she edged back and shook her head. "I can't, not now. I need some time."

"Grace..." Remus trailed off helplessly. "I don't know what happened but just let me say this: I _am_ sorry. They were dark times and we had to make difficult choices. I'm sorry that the path I thought was right for both of us turned out to be the wrong one for you."

"But not for you?" She asked, already knowing the answer and hating him a bit for how little he seemed to understand the impact he could have made on her life.

Remus sighed heavily. "If I hadn't taken the path I did, I don't think we would be standing here like we are now."

Grace shook her head. "I understand that you think that, but I'm not sure if that's enough for me to forgive you for it."

Remus looked heartbroken and resigned. "Whenever you're ready then." He said softly with a nod.

Grace left as quickly as she could, not able to spend another minute in a house filled with people who would question her and make demands of her. After everything that had happened that morning she really didn't feel like taking another hit for the team. What she needed right now was time spent away from both James and Remus. One to process the abandonment and one to process being a raging dick.

\---******---

Not quite knowing where to go or what to do she decided to at least be productive while she let her temper simmer down. After getting a bite to eat at the Leaky Cauldron she went to Gringotts and spent the rest of the morning picking up more letters to go through when she got back again. It wasn't what she wanted to do with her time but it was the most effective.

But she wasn't going to think about that now, not down in the caves of Gringotts, so instead she ignored it and filled her bag as much as possible before going topside again and asked for a meeting with Nagnok. She was here, why not?

"Potter." A far too familiar voice stated as she waited for a goblin to take her to Nagnok's office.

"Malfoy." Grace sighed in abject misery as she turned around to see the blond ponce. "Of course you're here. What do you want?"

"What? A schoolmate can't come over and say hello?" He asked, faking an innocent look so badly she wondered if he was a good liar at all.

"Fine. Would you like to tell me why I needed an inheritance test?"

"Let's just say that your father thought it prudent." Malfoy stated with a smirk.

Wasn't that just another layer to this entire mess? It also explained why James thought it was a good idea to go to Malfoy's mother for 'period lessons'. Besides the poor sod having no idea how it all worked if he thought she 'needed to be brought into the fold', he also very clearly had some sort of good relationship with the Malfoy’s if he intended for her to go to Malfoy’s mother for help. There were no traditions, no secret meetings between women to figure anything out. The only traditions that might have been valuable were how each House would protect their vulnerable witches but since she had no family it really didn't apply to her. The fact that Malfoy was in her face right now telling her he knew about her ‘father’ just reiterated how precarious James’ position was in the war. Not only that really, but how much James seemed to like flitting about and changing the world to his very needs. He was a stuck up prick that needed to realize that not everything was about his needs.

"Fantastic. Great guy. Really, just the best." She replied, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.

"What are you doing here Potty?" Parkinson's nasal voice suddenly demanded, popping out from behind Malfoy and sneering at her like she was a bug.

"Eurg, _no_." Grace uttered, very much done with the world when Parkinson practically glued herself to Malfoy's arm. She turned on her heel and walked away from the pair as quickly as humanly possible.

She heard Malfoy's irate voice and Parkinson's simpering 'what did I do' tones in reply but was saved from the drama by a goblin loudly calling her name. She wasn't even ashamed of the fact that she practically ran towards Nagnok's office. Sometimes even goblins were better than having to deal with Malfoy and Parkinson.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor." Nagnok stated when she walked in. "Why are you here?"

Grace held back an eye roll. Honestly, they were really a welcoming lot, weren't they? "There are a few matters I would like to discuss with you."

"Of course." He replied, as if that was only logical and she was stupid for thinking anything else.

"I would like some information on the attorneys for the Black estates." Thinking the sooner she could contact them, the sooner she could get rid of the extra weight on her shoulders.

"What kind of information?"

"Everything that is on file." Nagnok nodded and wrote something down then looked back up at her and motioned for her to continue. "I'd like to visit the cottage in Ireland to assess the property and being making plans for any renovations that might be necessary. I'd like the detailed file on the property and anything else that might pertain to it."

Grace had to be careful of what she was requesting. Sometimes you could ask for a file and only be given the bare bones of it while what you needed was the full file. In this case, she had to explicitly state she needed everything that was included and mentioned the cottage or Nagnok might 'accidentally' forget to give it to her. It was the difference between finding a curse and eliminating it or not knowing it even existed at all. Speaking of which.

"Is there any information about the proceedings concerning the house in Belgium?"

Nagnok put down his quill and opened a drawer in order to retrieve a file. He plopped the file down and opened it before skimming over it. "It seems the case has been closed. The Wouter attorneys have lost the case due to incompetence."

"Incompetence?" How do you do that? She didn't even know that it was possible to lose a case because of incompetence.

"They were found negligent in regards to checking the property before moving in. The fault lies with them seeing as the curse was dormant upon the sale and was only activated after they moved in."

If they hadn't tried to sue her, she might have felt sorry for them. "So the case is now closed?"

"Correct. We would have sent the invoice tomorrow but since you are here you may receive it now." Nagnok said as he handed over the invoice.

Grace took it and looked over the costs. "Five-" Grace choked on air. "5000 galleons?! _Are you mental_?"

"That is the price."

"There's no way I'm paying 5000 galleons for a fucking attorney!"

"You did not pay 5000 galleons for an attorney. You _will_ pay 5000 galleons for a goblin attorney."

"What-that has nothing to do with it! Wizard or goblin attorney means shite! They're doing the same job!"

"The Horde disagrees. We pay attorneys to win, wizards pay attorneys to fight their causes."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means you pay to win. We won, you pay."

Grace stood there, with her mouth agape and her emotions warring between rage and blind astonishment. "5000 galleons? A normal lawyer is 450, and that's for an expensive one!"

Nagnok sighed in irritation. "As I already explained to you feeble minded wizard, we won, you pay."

"You didn't ask if I even wanted him!" Grace objected immediately.

"You didn't object." Nagnok pointed out and because it was true it was hard to argue against.

"This is absurd! Can't we, I don't know, haggle? Make some sort of deal?" She asked, a little desperate.

Nagnok’s eyes narrowed. "This is a business, not a charity. That is the price of our involvement. If you had wanted someone else, you should have done so. You did not. That is your bill. Fail to pay and we will extract what we see fit in compensation."

"For fucks sake!" Grace grumbled under her breath. "Fine! Fucking fine! See if I ever work with you lot in the future."

"You did not work with us, we worked for you. Solving one of your many problems." Nagnok stated as he barred his teeth.

"Lesson learned." Grace sneered back as she allowed the Horde to extract 5000 galleons from the Black vaults.

"If you had wanted someone cheaper-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I should have done it myself. Fuck's _sake_!" She muttered with feeling. Fucking thieves, the whole lot! Not that she'd ever say that out loud of course.

"Anything else?" Nagnok asked in a bored tone now that he had her money.

Grace took a deep breath and centred herself, needing to let go of her emotions a little or she wouldn’t be able to get through everything she wanted while she was here. "Yeah, I need to arrange for the letters in the Girl-Who-Lived vaults to be sent to me periodically while I'm in Hogwarts."

The goblin narrowed his eyes. "All the letters?"

Grace blanched. "No! Just some of them."

Nagnok leaned back and eyed her carefully. "200 a week."

Grace shook her head almost immediately. "200 a month!" She shot back.

"Unacceptable. 200 every other week."

"That's ridiculous! I wouldn't have time for my schoolwork. 100 every other week."

"200 every other week." Nagnok replied evenly.

Grace narrowed her eyes. "I'm arranging this, correct?"

Nagnok barred his teeth. "Correct."

"Then I'm arranging 100 letters to be delivered to me at Hogwarts every other week on Sunday morning. What would that cost me?" She stated in a final tone, knowing that if she didn’t put her foot down, she’d be here forever and he’d probably still get his way in the end.

Nagnok smiled at her and she swore it was scarier than when he barred his teeth. "You learn quickly."

"I'd better after today." Grace mumbled to herself.

"Cost of labour, owl usage rates, continued service." Nagnok mumbled while he scribbled some things down and used a device Grace could only guess at. "Total is 56 galleons."

"Per delivery?" Grace asked, outrage already in her voice.

Nagnok had the audacity to look affronted by her question. "No, we are not thieves, this is a monthly rate."

Grace almost scoffed at that, but wisely kept her mouth shut. She sighed deeply and wondered if the cost was worth it. She could, essentially, wait until she had the time again and then pick up where she left off with the letters. On the other hand, the letters didn't exactly stop coming did they? She may be taking a few with her every time she came to Gringotts but it in no way made any kind of dent. If she wanted to get through them all (and then move on to the gift vault) this was probably a necessary cost.

Alternatively, she could put someone else on the vault as co-owner or some such to allow them access and get the letters for her. That wouldn't cost her anything at all. It was the better option if she hadn't already known that putting someone else's name with yours on a vault not only meant hours (and she wasn't even exaggerating here) of paperwork but also an exorbitant payment for having to make the changes. Having the letters sent to her might be a bit more expensive but it was the least time consuming option.

"Yes, alright, bill me." Grace uttered on a sigh. The amount of money she was spending was giving her heart palpitations and she vowed to herself not to spend anything until Yule to make up for it.

"Noted." Nagnok stated as she scribbled something down again. Once he was done he opened a different drawer and pulled out two files, one significantly bigger than the other. "Information on House Black attorneys." He stated handing over the slimmer file. "Information on the House Black property in Ireland." He stated as he handed her the big file.

Grace didn't even have it in her to sigh. "Great." She was about to get up when something occurred to her. She narrowed her eyes at Nagnok. "For the deliveries of letters, I would like it to start the first Sunday of October."

Nagnok looked a little put out that she had remembered to give him a start date at all. "It will be done."

She figured she could take that as a win and left before anything else happened to her that would cost her money.

\---******---

After leaving Gringotts, Grace found an out-of-the-way bakery that had a small space for a handful of tables and chairs. It was relatively quiet and she appreciated the early afternoon lull so she could pull out the attorney file and figure out who was working for her. House Black financed the company, which was probably the reason why they were also the personal attorneys of House Black (not that Sirius had used them for his own case, which was just stupid in her eyes).

It was run by Russell Tripe and Edward Hitchens, both in their early 70's and still played a large and active part in the day-to-day running of the company. Lord Tripe, who owned a minor House, had two sons and a daughter and was grooming the daughter to take over for him. Hitchens, no House, had four sons and none were interested in the company so he was grooming one of his employees to take over his side of the business. By all accounts, both Tripe's daughter and Hitchens' chosen heir were well suited for the jobs and even got along. The company seemed to be in safe hands but only time would tell. For now her investment was secure.

That did bring her to what she wanted to tell them in her letter. She really only needed to set up a meeting with them, but it could save time to give them an indication of what she was after. Deciding that was the smartest course of action, she put quill to parchment and penned a request for a meeting pertaining to the rules concerning House transfers. She hoped that was enough of a nudge to have them prepared when they met.

After having written the note Grace took her time enjoying her tea and her snack knowing that when she got back to Grimmauld Place she would probably get a scolding of a lifetime. As any reasonable adult would do, she decided to take her time getting back, so after sending off the note she took her time walking back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Not just because she wanted more time away from the people she was living with, but also because she needed time to process the things James had touched on.

Her period for starters. It wasn't necessarily a sore spot for her, but it was one of the most obvious signs of the abuse and stress she'd had to deal with over the years since she hadn't gotten her period until late into her fourth year.

It was Hermione who actually pointed it out to her during breakfast one morning. It had shocked her something fierce and she quickly deflected any inquires by stating it was stress related. Hermione couldn't disagree with that because the stress she was under from the TriWizard Tournament was very prominent and instead researched solutions for Grace. Grace was thankful for the reprieve but it drove home the point that while she may think she was healthy, her body was clearly telling her otherwise. It was the first time she had even thought the word 'abuse' and though she had refused to even think about it too loudly in her own mind, in the years since the revelation she was forced to think it louder and louder until it practically screamed at her.

The scars on the back of her right hand were different though. They were a reminder of what 'normal' people were capable of in defence of their beliefs. She had no idea where she had heard it, but she had remembered someone once saying that the most dangerous people in the world where those who believed in something with their whole selves. Those were the people who could never be persuaded, could never change, and could never alter the course they were set on. Umbridge was one of those people, a true believer. She had believed in her power, she had believed in her position, and most of all, she had believed in the Ministry. The scars on the back of her hand were proof of that.

Grace, though, had never been one to take anything lying down. After the Ministry, after Sirius had fallen through the veil and after she had raged at the Headmaster, she had needed some time to herself. She had found herself wandering through the Forbidden Forrest and had stumbled upon Umbridge falling through the undergrowth muttering about...well, nothing good.

And Grace...she'd just...had enough. Enough pain, enough pressure, enough of having the people she loved die for her. Enough of people lying to her, enough of people thinking she was something she wasn't, enough of being bullied. Enough of people torturing her. So she'd done what she hadn't been able to with Bellatrix. She'd turned her wand on Umbridge and cursed her, the anger she'd felt simmering down in Dumbledore's office reaching a crescendo that only had one outlet.

She'd later only remembered bits and pieces. She'd wondered if she had dreamed it, but she'd never forgot the feeling of all that magic rush through her as she rid herself of her anger and grief. It had taken the aurors (according to Kingsley) some time to find her and when they did, she was back in custody of the centaurs. She hadn't remembered anything. Maybe that was a good thing for Grace, but what she could never forget was that one moment of stupidity, the one moment she let her emotions off their leash and she tortured another human. Not that she necessarily thought that Umbridge deserved her kindness, more that Grace felt she should never have let herself get to the point of feeling that an unforgivable was the only outlet available to her.

One was a point of shame and one was a point of guilt. Having them both shoved in her face the way James had done had made her defensive and angry. He didn't have the _right_. He wasn't in any position to confront her about either of the issues and she was feeling particularly resentful for the fact that he felt he had.

How did she try to get past this? Should she even forgive either James or Remus for this? James' intrusion notwithstanding, what Remus had done was...it was a long time ago. Did it really change anything for her now?

Maybe this was one of the reasons she did actually need to see a mind healer, so she could have someone to help her sort through all of this mess and get to the heart of the issue.

What she really needed was advice from someone she trusted.

\---******---

"Professor Dumbledore?" Grace asked. "You wanted to see me?"

In the three days since her blow up with both James and Remus, Grace had stayed well away from both of them. She had gotten a few pointed looks from the people around her but James usually deflected them and Remus distracted them. She appreciated that they both understood she needed time, but while her anger had simmered, the rest of her emotions hadn’t. The only silver lining she could see was the fact that James had kept his mouth shut about their argument and hadn’t told the world about…private matters.

"I did." Professor Dumbledore nodded, smiling at Grace as she walked into the kitchen and sat down across from him. "There was another reason I picked you up earlier than planned this year."

"Besides James you mean sir?" Grace asked, also fully aware that this was the first time he had been allowed to corner her without James jumping in-between them.

"Yes, and I must convey my apologies for putting you into a room with James without any prior warning. I had something rather urgent to discuss with one of the Order members and it was quite time sensitive. However, that was not why I came to see you. This term I will ask you to join me in a special class."

Now that was intriguing. "Special class, sir?" She wondered if this would be something to help her defeat Voldemort, if Dumbledore was finally letting her help in the way she had wanted to from the beginning.

A twinkle in his eye told Grace that he knew exactly where her thoughts had lead her. "I can't say too much more, but these classes will be vital for the outcome of the war."

"In defeating Voldemort you mean?" She asked, wanting to be sure.

He nodded. "Correct. I cannot, at the moment, tell you how regularly they will occur, but I wish for you to be prepared for them when I ask you to join me."

"Of course sir!" She replied immediately, almost pitching forwards and off her chair in her eagerness.

"Thank you, Grace."

"Was there anything else sir?" She asked when she saw that he stayed sitting and regarded her with a question in his eyes.

"There was." Professor Dumbledore said slowly. "But I wonder if I'm not overstepping."

"Won't know till you ask." Grace answered with a shrug, curious as to what he could possibly consider overstepping.

"I had wondered how it was going with James.” He stated, watching her closely.

Grace couldn't have stopped the aggravated sigh if she had tried. "Terrible, frankly. He wants me to see a mind healer."

"Does he?" Dumbledore asked, a note of surprise in his tone even as he narrowed his eyes in thought. Probably because he figured James had something sinister up his sleeve.

"Yeah, he said that after Sirius I needed to talk to someone to help me sort it all out." Grace answered, not willing to lie just yet but also not willing to tell him the whole truth.

"But you disagree." He guessed with a knowing look.

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'm ready to talk to anyone about Sirius. It was just the way he said it and how he brought it up that just..." Grace trailed off with a shrug. There was really no good way to say 'he pissed me off so much I've refused to speak with him for the past few days' other than to blurt it out and she didn't really feel like doing that.

Dumbledore leaned back and studied Grace. "It is an unsettling feeling to know we have failed you on so many levels lately."

"What do you mean?" She asked, a little baffled that Dumbledore thought he was failing Grace at all.

He smiled soft at her confusion. "James is quite right and if you were any other person you would have already gotten some sort of help."

"Are you saying I need it?" She returned, perhaps a little offended now that more people thought she needed outside help to deal with something she had been handling just fine on her own.

"Perhaps 'need' is a strong term. I believe having an outside perspective could benefit you and aid you in your healing. Death is no small matter." He cautioned her.

"I don't like that he pushed for me to do it without my input." Grace said sullenly, knowing she couldn’t fight against any other point since they were all valid points when it came to her mental health.

Dumbledore had the nerve to chuckle at her. "Because he was the one to bring it up or because you realize you need it and refuse to acknowledge it?"

"You're a meddling old man and I'm buying you mismatched socks for Christmas." Grace stated with a huff as she crossed her arms and glared at him.

Dumbledore merely beamed. "Ah! I cannot wait to see what your lively imagination conjures up!"

"What about secrecy?” She asked, getting serious again. “I mean, I'm the Girl-Who-Lived and now that everyone knows Voldemort is back..." Grace trailed off with a shrug.

Dumbledore hummed in thought. "I believe muggles call it doctor-patient confidentiality."

"Er, what?" She blinked at him in shock. How did he know what muggles called it?

"It means that anything discussed between you and your potential future mind healer would stay between the two of you."

"Spells?" She wondered out loud.

"Vows, I believe." Dumbledore corrected her.

"Oh, right." Grace took a few minutes to absorb that thought. "Do you, I mean, would you know anyone trustworthy that might, I dunno, see me? Talk to me about how it all worked? Just to see if it would help."

It wasn’t so much that she trusted Dumbledore after all this (there were still a few things to work through in that respect) it was more the fact that he had always been on her side and was willing to help her if she asked. Most of the time. Maybe. Ok, she really did need a mind healer and he was the best bet to get someone that would stick to the vows and not screw her over since no one wanted to screw the great Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled kindly at her. "I might know a few people. I will let you know if any of them feel they could help you with your questions."

Grace sagged in relief. "Thank you sir."

"It's the least I could do. Was there anything else on your mind?" He asked as he looked at her twisting her fingers together.

"Could I-it's just-I wanted to know." Grace stumbled out, not quite knowing how to ask a question she knew she wouldn’t get an answer to.

Professor Dumbledore chuckled amusedly. "Often times I find myself wanting to say so much nothing comes out at all."

"Right. Sorry.” She replied and took a deep breath. “I was just wondering what the plans are, in the Order."

Professor Dumbledore frowned at her as he stroked his beard. "With a heavy heart I must tell you that I cannot reveal anything to you."

Grace clenched her teeth in irritation but managed to level her tone since she already knew that despite her hope otherwise. "I know that, I meant more in the sense of, well, what concerns me really."

"Ah. The plans that pertain to you." Dumbledore stated, still looking as if he wouldn’t tell her anything.

Grace nodded. "Right."

"I'm afraid I cannot reveal that either. There are many things in play at the moment that are not only time sensitive but also dangerous to utter to a person not under the vows of the Order itself." He warned her with a heavy look.

"Like a spy, sir?" Grace wondered, thinking that if that was true then what was Snape doing? Would he have two different vows on him that would sometimes war against each other or was the Dark Mark a different kind of magic altogether? And when in the hell had she started to worry about _Snape_?

"After what happened to your parents, a lesson we should have never had to learn, we were forced to become a more ruthless this time around. The less people that know our plans, the more chance they have of success. I hope you understand that I don't mean to purposefully leave you out of the war, just that, for the moment, this is the best way." Dumbledore said as gently as he could.

Grace breathed in slowly and nodded. "I understand. Thank you for explaining it to me."

Professor Dumbledore chuckled at her. "You are annoyed."

"I want to be useful, I want to help and every time I try someone tells me to sit back down and be a child while I still have the chance." She exclaimed in one breath.

"Are they wrong." Professor Dumbledore said solemnly.

“I haven't been a child for a long time." Grace scoffed derisively as she agreed, momentarily forgetting whom she was talking to. "I didn't mean-"

"You did." Professor Dumbledore nodded sadly. "And I deeply regret the hand that I unknowingly played in that. Alas, regret comes with living and we must deal with it and accept it as best we can."

"I just want to help." Grace said helplessly.

"And you will, dear girl. We are simply trying to gain an upper hand on the playing field before we send in our best." He stated with a wink. Something in his robes screeched like an offended cat. "Ah! I fear we must cut our time short today, it seems my next appointment has been moved up. If we don't see each other before the end of summer, I wish you a happy train journey."

"Thank you sir." Grace said before watching Dumbledore leave. Maybe having some time away from the war would give her the time and space she needed to set her own head straight.

\---******---

Used to early mornings, she rose before most of the others in the house and had the luxury of taking her time in the bathroom, something she relished after years of either shared bathroom time in the dorms or minimal bathroom time with the Dursley's. By the time she made her way downstairs, Mrs. Weasley was up and starting breakfast while Dumbledore stood with Snape on the opposite side of the room speaking in quiet tones. She wasn't sure if it was a reflection on the house or if they were used to speaking softly about sensitive information but she was sure it wasn't anything too important because they seemed to have no problem continuing their conversation after a polite 'good morning'. Well, after Dumbledore said good morning. The day Snape said it to her without a sneer her way she just might die of shock.

She smiled politely and went over to Mrs. Weasley to help out with breakfast. She got a wide smile, a birthday hug, and a huff of exasperation before being unceremoniously pushed back towards the table.

Grace laughed and gamely sat down, smiling widely as Mr. Weasley walked in with some fresh tea. He wished her a happy birthday as well and popped an extra full cup in front of her. She accepted the cup with a happy sigh and promptly wrapped her cold hands around it and let the warmth seep into her cold fingers. She ignored a sleepy Hermione who walked in not long after, but softened only a little when the other girl wished her a happy birthday too.

She wouldn't admit to it but she had actually forgotten that it was her birthday at all. It had been a few days since her talk with Dumbledore and she decided she'd had enough time to sort through her very many emotions enough to settle on a few of them. The first was that she was still very angry with both Remus and James. James was out of line even though what he proposed came from a good place.

Remus was harder to reconcile for her because she didn't like how he had kept his identity a secret from her during her third year but there wasn't really much she could do about it. His decisions were not hers and she couldn't judge or hold them against Remus. If he did that now, she could. She just didn't know how to get rid of the feeling of disappointment whenever she looked at him. Disappointment that he couldn't have been honest with her. Disappointment at the future she lost, at the opportunities she missed just because Remus didn't think she'd benefit from him being in her life.

Where James had pushed because he cared, Remus had hidden because he had been selfish. Maybe that wasn’t right of her to think, but it was how she felt. She also didn’t want to be stuck feeling like this every time she either saw him or was around him.

When James walked into the room and his eyes sought her out, she came to a decision. She’d have to lay down some very clear rules that he wouldn’t be allowed to cross in the future, but for now she could stop being actively angry at him.

So with a small smile she greeted his gaze. It was only a small gesture, one that stated 'I don't forgive you, but I'm not angry anymore'. James' shoulders relaxed and his smile became more genuine then it had since their fight. He had been worried, Grace thought with some measure of surprise. For some reason she hadn't thought it would bother James all that much at how angry she had been with him the past few days. Seeing how upset it had made him gave her a better insight to his feelings than any words he had said over the past few weeks. He truly cared for her and she still found herself surprised that he did.

Two arms came down on either side of her and her back was warmed by a steady presence. A small box was put down in front of her, wrapped in a deep blue colour that somehow made it look elegant despite being only wrapping paper. His head came down over hers and then dipped until his lips brushed her left ear.

"Happy birthday darling." He said so softly it was only a breath.

"For me?" She asked quietly as she tried to ignore the heat he exuded, one she hadn’t been aware of missing until he was in her space again.

"Only ever for you." James told her, softly kissing her on the side of her head.

She barely noticed Dumbledore watching them closely as Snape glowered at them with a hatred she hadn't ever seen before. She opened the package slowly, savouring the fact that she had a gift at all and blinked in shock as she opened a jewellery box that contained an intricate chain of flowers that somehow still managed to be dainty instead of overbearing. It was beautiful and perfect and she couldn’t take her eyes off it.

“It’s got every kind of protection that I could get on it for you.” James said softly when she only stared at it. He moved to sit next to her and tucked a bit of her hair behind her ear, trailing his fingers across her cheek softly and catching her attention.

“Why?” She asked, confused and feeling unsettled.

“Why did I get you a gift on your birthday or why did I get what I did?” He asked her.

“Both?”

“I got you a gift because it’s your birthday and you’re important to me. I got you this gift specifically because I love you and I need to know you are safe, whether or not I’m in your life.”

Grace almost choked on her own spit. _Love!_ “That’s a big statement.” She told him, not quite looking into his eyes.

He chuckled as he took the necklace from its perch and reached over to put in on her. Grace lifted her hair so he wouldn’t have to tangle with it and watched him out of the corner of her eye.

“It is a big statement, one I’m not waiting to hear back from you. I do not expect anything from you darling, just an opportunity to show you how perfectly we could fit.” Grace hesitated as she thought back over the last few days. “Everyone fights, Grace.” James continued softly, understanding her hesitation. “That doesn’t mean we aren’t a good match, simply that we are still learning about each other. We will fight in the future, just as we will still make amends in the future.”

Grace nodded and smiled at him, not quite sure she knew what to say to that when they hadn’t really had an opportunity to clear the air between them.

As luck would have it (and that would be the unlucky part mind) Ron chose that moment to stumble into the kitchen and wonder loudly when breakfast was. James’ irritation with all things Ron had not diminished during their…time apart and having James put an arm around her shoulders was both pleasant and completely overbearing.

Instead, quite possibly to keep the peace, she indulged James when he started to recount his pranking days and how much fun it had been to think them all up. Ron, more awake at this point, frowned heavily at James’ arm and plopped himself right next to her and pulled her into a hug before wishing her a happy birthday.

It wasn’t that Grace didn’t like Ron; it was that Ron was her friend and somewhere along the way he had decided he wasn’t happy with that. Ever since Hermione had pointed out his interest in her, it seemed like Ron had decided to stop hiding his interest as well. Either that or Grace now noticed he was expressing his interest and it made her distinctly uncomfortable and she didn’t know how to fix it. Thankfully, the rest of the household seemed to follow Ron in and she was quickly passed from person to person with well wishes and a few good shoulder pats.

The rest of the day wasn’t much different than any other during her stay at Grimmauld Place. The only major difference was the small party the Order members were throwing her that evening, with cake and everything. She had received a happy stack of gifts that ranged from make-up (Lavender and Parvati who promised they would show her how to use the stuff) to some kind of experimental concoction that Fred and George swore would be worth it. Hermione gave her a homework organiser (which for once would come in handy) and Neville had even sent over a small sapling she wished she could remember the name of so promptly called it Sparkles instead.

The day passed in a blur of gifts and work and eating and work and gifts before finally there was cake and (horribly) singing. She could really have done without the singing. During all this time she did notice that both Remus and James kept their distance from her. Remus she understood as she still hadn’t spoken with him, but she had thought that maybe James would want to be a little closer. Of course, then it occurred to her that James was trying to make it her choice and she couldn’t help but wonder if she kept missing these small details of care.

As with most things she tried to avoid for as long as possible, Arthur cornered her after Fred and George abandoned her to sneak up on Kingsley hoping to hear something new about the Order.

"Grace?" Mr. Weasley asked as he came to stand beside her, drink in hand.

Grace swallowed her bite of cake as quickly as she could. "Mr. Weasley?"

"I didn't want to push earlier, but I have noticed that you've been avoiding me."

Grace blushed a little, embarrassment at being caught out momentarily overwhelming her. "It, uh, wasn't really intentional."

Mr. Weasley chuckled lightly. "I suspected it had more to do with what you found out." He stated with a knowing look.

Grace had thought about this long and hard when she was avoiding him. Which path would she take? Would she disavow all knowledge of her true parentage and let the chips fall where they may when the truth came out (and the horror over her dating her father) or did she admit she knew the truth and let their closeness seem like a natural occurrence? The first was easier, at least for the moment. Not having anyone know meant a whole host of problems wouldn't be on her plate for the foreseeable future. The down side was the fallout and it would be quite the fallout and would probably follow her for years to come.

No, the easiest route was telling Mr. Weasley now and hoping he'd keep it to himself long enough that she would feel more secure in her position.

"He's not my father." Grace said quietly, hoping that no one would listen in.

Mr. Weasley's eyes bulged a little before he composed himself. "Well. Right. Oh dear."

She couldn't help but snort at the understatement and his shock. "That's about right." She agreed.

"And Severus?" He asked softly, looking around to make sure no one else was near.

Grace nodded. "He's my father."

Mr. Weasley blew out a breath and seemed to bounce in place while he thought about everything Grace told him. "Have you decided what to do?"

"You mean will I tell Snape?" Mr. Weasley nodded and she shrugged in reply. "I dunno. Not yet anyway. I mean, what would happen if the wrong person knew and it got back to Voldemort?"

Mr. Weasley looked a little uncomfortable at that but nodded. "That's a reasonable concern, but don't you think he deserves to know?"

She looked up at him and stared into his eyes. "I'm sixteen today." She stated. "That's sixteen years he hasn't been there for me, whether he knew about me or not. Another year or so really wouldn't make a difference."

"It might to him." Mr. Weasley tried gently but Grace was already shaking her head.

"I know you mean well, but I just got back someone I thought was my father who now isn't and now Snape is my father. I don't-I need some time to sort it all out."

Mr. Weasley nodded slowly in acceptance but she wondered how true that acceptance really was. "Does James know?"

"He saw that I was upset, we, uh, had a bit of a fight." A half-truth that wouldn’t hurt either of them if Mr. Weasley confronted James sometime in the future.

"I had noticed that." Mr. Weasley sighed deeply as he looked around the room, silently watching the people around them as he seemed to make a decision. "I understand that you'd like some time and I will respect that wish, but I'd also like to caution you that if you don't tell him when the war is over, I will."

Grace nodded as she averted her eyes, trying not to show her irritation and anger over that last statement. Why did they always treat her like she didn't know her own mind, like she wasn't capable of making her own decisions? Thankfully it wouldn't matter too much longer. She was a Lord now and once that came out, Mr. Weasley wouldn't be allowed to spill any of her secrets without possibly angering two powerful Houses. They would learn what it meant to deal with a 'teenager' sooner or later.

Dismissing him for the moment, she let her eyes search out for someone to talk to when her eyes landed on James. He stood in a group with Fred, Kingsley, Ginny, and Diggle, but had been watching her the whole time. She should have felt a jolt of surprise but it would have been more of a surprise to find him not watching her. Making up her mind, she walked up to the group and gave them all a small smile before focusing on James.

"James? Could I have a word?" Grace asked, gesturing with head towards the door. James nodded and put down his drink before offering his arm which she gladly took.

"I'm not sorry." Grace mumbled as they walked, making sure that no one would be able to hear her.

"About what?" He asked quietly.

Grace sighed silently. She hated explaining herself like this. "About yelling at you. About being angry at you for pushing me."

James hummed. "I had thought that might have been your reaction."

"But you said it anyway."

"You need help, Grace." James replied gently.

"I know, but that doesn't make it your place to try and direct me in the direction you want me to go. It's not about you, it's about me. Besides, if I'm not ready to talk to someone it won't matter how many times I go. It has nothing to do with you and I really don't appreciate the way you've been pushing me into it." Grace stated slowly, trying to make him understand why exactly she had been so angry and why he really shouldn’t pull something like this in the future.

James looked at her helplessly. "I just wanted to help."

"Maybe you do, but you don't have the right to try and force me into something I don't want."

"And you don't want to see a mind healer?" He asked, bringing her to a stop just inside the library where they could have some semblance of privacy.

Grace hesitated. "Not right this minute no. I know I need to see someone but I'm not ready to do that yet. Maybe when all of this is over and when I finally get a chance to just relax. That's not going to happen any time soon."

"All the more reason you should go. There's never going to be a good time, darling. Are you going to wait long enough that your problems will become insurmountable?"

She sighed deeply. She didn't want to be angry with him again, didn't want to fall into a rage. “I don't know what you want from me."

"I want you healthy.” James said almost immediately. “I want you to be able to live your life without anyone else if that is what you would want."

"Even you?" Grace questioned carefully.

James nodded solemnly. "Even me. To do that you need to be able to take care of yourself."

"And you don't think I'm capable of that right now?" There was no heat behind her question, just curiosity at what his answer would be.

"Grace. You frequently forget to eat without proper prompting, when you get emotional you tend to start cleaning, and the amount of times you've gotten hurt and not noticed is worrying." James said, worry evident in his voice as he crossed the distance between them and wrapped her up in his arms.

Grace melted into his hug even as she scrunched up her face in confusion. "Hurt? I haven't gotten hurt."

James shook his head in frustration. "The other day George accidentally slammed into you which caused you to be shoved against the railing of the stairs."

She blinked in surprise, not even remembering the moment he was talking about. "He did?"

"That's my point.” James groused as he tightened his hold, his eyes seeking hers and boring into them. “You didn't even notice you got injured."

"It's not your job to take care of me." She pointed out, feeling the need to point out something that had been on her mind since their fight.

"No, it's not, but I would like to be the first person you reach for when something goes wrong." He said gently as one of his hands tucked her hair more firmly behind her ear before cupping her cheek.

She gulped and hoped it wasn’t as loud as it sounded to her. "That's...a lot."

"Not any less or more than Courting." He said as he let his thumb stroke her cheek.

Grace cracked a small smile. "Of course you'd go there."

"And will you go see a mind healer?" He asked, pressing a little when she had just warned him off.

"You're pushing again."

"No one else will. Grace, please. For yourself. It doesn't even have to be once a week if you don't want to, it could be once a month, every other month if needs must."

"I need a bit more time to think about it." She said as she put her hand over his and pulled it away from her face.

"That...seems like a fair idea. Perhaps you could discuss it with someone who isn't me?" James said with a sigh, wrapping both arms around her once again and tucking her in close.

"I talked to Professor Dumbledore already." Grace told him as she rested her head on his shoulder and let herself enjoy the contact she had missed since their spat.

"Albus?" James asked, taken aback. "When did you do that?"

"Hm? Oh, a couple of days ago I guess. He said it was probably a good idea." Grace told him with a muted shrug.

"Did he? And did that help you decide?" There was a tenseness in his voice that made Grace lift her head to look at him.

She furrowed her brow. “I did just say I would need more time to think about it.” She rolled her eyes at him before resting her head back on his shoulder. “But yes, he did help. He's sending out a few inquiries."

“That’s…good. That’s good.” James said with a slow nod. “Will you keep me informed?”

Grace hummed out an agreement before being overcome by a yawn. It may have only been a handful of days, but their fight had taken a lot out of her and she hadn’t realised how much she had begun to rely on James and Remus until neither of them were there for her.

She still needed to sort things out with Remus but she figured it could wait until tomorrow at least since having one fairly emotional conversation was more than enough for her poor nerves. At least now she had James by her side again, even if she did still need to give him an update on her new rules.

It wasn't the best birthday she had ever had, but she did think it would be one of her favourites simply because she got to share it with James.

\---******---

Hermione Jean Granger was a lot of things in her life, but unobservant was never one of them. So after she choked on her tea and gained her breath back, she watched how James walked in with a smile that turned into a smirk as soon as he saw his daughter at the table.

She watched as he crowded his daughter, watched as Grace lost her usual guarded posture and relaxed in his arms. Watched as he whispered something in her ear and smirked at Professor Snape whose lips curled in disgust.

It was not normal father behaviour.

She watched as Grace tilted her head to give her father more room, watched them have a soft private conversation that she wished she could have heard. Watched Grace's eyes darken with something she couldn't name that had her doubt where Grace stood in the war. Watched as she looked at James with something other than the love a girl would have for her father.

It was not normal daughter behaviour.

But then he was pushing her hair back from her face and telling her about some silly pranks he had pulled as a teenager and the tension that had been there just a second before was gone as if it had never been and it left Hermione confused. She turned to look at Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore and wasn't surprised by the sheer hatred on the Potion Master's face. She was surprised by the...something on Headmaster Dumbledore's. It wasn't quite anger, wasn't quite disgust. A mixture of distrust and..._something_. She didn't know.

Didn't know how she felt about James Potter, a man who was blatant in his dislike for most of the Order, blatant in manoeuvring his daughter into distrusting the rest of the Order, blatant in his distrust of her. Her! Grace's best friend!

Granted, a friend who hadn't been a very good friend and one that had let her down twice for the same offense, but she was trying. Trying to be better and trying to understand her friend better because if she was being truthful, being a girl and having emotions sucked. She just wanted to read, was that too much to ask? She wanted to read and learn everything she could because she was magic and she had magic powers and she was finally powerful in a way she could understand! She refused to let those...those Purebloods take that from her, take the wonder of being something else, of being something more when she thought she had been less.

So she was allowed to make mistakes, she was allowed to be confused about the right way to go about things when people who lived in that world, people who were older and trusted, told her to do it. She knew Grace didn't trust, knew that her 'accidental bruising' wasn't on the up and up, knew there were reasons deeper than the ones she had been told but she was a good friend and she would do her damndest to stay one, even if it meant keeping secrets that did more harm than help.

To do that she gave Grace the space she needed to be angry, got between Ron and Grace when the latter looked uncomfortable enough to self-combust. Gave James the benefit of the doubt.

She just didn't know if that benefit would be thing that brought them all down when the doubt could have saved them all because James was dangerous, but James turning Grace into something darker was something none of them were even pondering, not even her.

Until now.

Which left her with one important thought: If Grace Potter changed sides, would she follow?

\---******---

It was there, waiting, watching, hunting. At the edge, just out of sight, just out of reach.

It bathed in darkness and tested her resolve, crept into the light and dared her to follow.

The longing was silent.

The need had numbed.

The hunger had diminished.

But the wanting had grown.

She wanted to reach out.

She wanted to touch.

She wanted to be surrounded, wrapped, encased.

She wanted what it offered, what it represented. Wanted to shirk the cloak they had forced on her. Wanted to deny the world they pressed down on her shoulders.

It waited patiently, watching, listening, learning.

She took a step towards the darkness.

She reached out and wondered what she was waiting for.

She touched the darkness.

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay safe guys and I hope this took your mind off the real world for a little while.  
No promises but I might be able to get the next chapter out a little faster so keep an eye out for that.


	7. This is an Invitation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold on to your hats, it's gonna get dark!- !TORTURE WARNING! For those of you who aren't into it for any reason (safety first!) I've bolded and underlined the *- so you know when it's safe to read again. Also, because of this, I've gone and updated the tags. If you feel it needs to be upped, let me know! Please remember that James is dark!!  
No beta, mistakes might wink at you.
> 
> Also, I'm early! Yay!

Umbridge. He had only heard that name as a passing note for Grace's fifth year and only remembered her when he looked up Grace's trial for underage magic. Grace's reaction to the woman's name meant something different though, you didn't hold on to that much fury and scorn for a teacher who only taught for a year. So why was this one so special? When you want to know the truth, you hunt down the source.

He couldn't rely on Grace to tell him the truth, not after the way she reacted to his overture. He needed a more delicate touch with her that he might not need for Umbridge. It was convenient that his darling had put herself in mild isolation as her temper burned strong since she wouldn't notice his absences as much as she otherwise might have. It was easy to fool the members of the Order since they figured he was pouting.

Instead he went to the Ministry, registered his wand with a smile and a polite nod and then got to work. Finding Dolores Jane Umbridge was a lot easier than he had ever imagined. It had been years since he had been here last but he was well aware of how lax security had gotten, especially since the population was now aware that Voldemort had risen from the dead. Not his problem when it benefitted him.

The woman hadn't been demoted or fired as he had assumed, merely shuffled off to a different department with the changing of leadership. It turned out that while her tenure as a professor was short lived, the details of her stay there hadn't been made public so the woman was able to reinstate herself as an authority figure.

It hadn't taken much to poke and prod people to tell him about her since she wasn't well liked in the circles that didn't matter. It had been laughable at how easily he had gotten the gossip and easier still at how he had simply strolled into the department of administration and looked up her home address.

He hadn't wanted to attract any attention while at Grimmauld, so his 'secret mission' took the entire week Grace needed to come to terms with his concerns for her health. To learn that Albus of all people was the push she had accepted had a rage burn in his gut, but he let it go because he had bigger plans.

It also meant that with Grace's 'forgiveness' he didn't have the time left to do the digging he wanted, not until it occurred to him that he had tonight as a last opportunity. His Grace was tired and practically sagging in his arms despite the fact that is was only barely ten o'clock. With a little dreamless sleep slipped into her glass of water, he made sure she would be out at least a full eight hours. Time enough to get to work.

Making his excuses to the Order and slipping out was easy. Apparating to Delores' flat was even easier. Catching her off-guard with a simple stunning spell was almost laughable. It seemed that even with Voldemort's return, people still refused to properly protect themselves. Not that it would have kept him out, just that it would have made this outing a little more fun.

He hauled Dolores' dead weight across the floor not caring about handling her carefully and then plopped her down onto a kitchen chair. He secured her, probably a little too tightly, to the chair but given how much his Grace hated her, he didn't care.

Looking around her living space he decided it would be prudent to find out exactly whom he was dealing with. Her co-workers may have given him some insight, but he got the impression that dear old Dolores was hiding a few things.

He hummed quietly to himself as he poked and prodded a few things, riffled through her files and books, not minding the mess he made as he systematically tore through her apartment. Modest living space, clearly no spouse or love interest, neat, not outrageously expensive furniture but nothing cheap either. She didn't live above her means but she certainly had aspirations above her means.

He found parchment after parchment of proposed plans both in the making and written up to curb creature legislation in her favour. As in, getting rid of all creatures. Remus would be furious, he thought as he looked over some of the more restrictive plans for werewolves. Clearly this woman had a problem with creatures despite them being an integral part of the Wizarding world. Merlin, what if she went after goblins? James shuddered in fear as he turned from her mad ravings and explored the rest of her apartment.

In the end, apart from her proposals, he had found nothing out of the ordinary. There were no hidden files, no lockboxes with potential blackmail material, no juicy gossip he could hold over her head in exchange for information. She was an ambitious woman, that was obvious, but also one who knew no one took her seriously and thus tended to use and abuse the power of those she worked for. In Grace's case it was Fudge's power she used to do what she wanted at the school. There was nothing that indicated anything about her time at Hogwarts however, which only left him with one option: asking the witch herself.

He didn't possess any veritaserum and he surely wasn't about to ask Snape, so that left him with legilimency. He grabbed another chair and placed it in front of Dolores' prone form and watched her for a bit. She was a small, pudgy woman whose features weren't pleasant, but weren't exactly unpleasant either. He mused that the dislike she gained from her peers was mostly due to her personality more than her looks. Well, he wouldn't get anything by just watching her, so he would need to wake her up.

"_Enervate_."

Dolores moaned and slowly moved her head, blinking sluggishly and looking around her until her eyes fell on him with confusion. It took a few more seconds until she was aware enough to realize that not only was there a stranger in her house, but that she was also tied up.

"What...what is the meaning of this?" She slurred out, clearly still a little affected by James' rough handling of her body. Oh well, a concussion here or there really wasn't his problem.

“Good evening Dolores. I thought it well past time we met." James replied pleasantly, sitting back in his chair as he waited for her to centre herself.

She blinked a few time as she straightened herself out and was finally able to put her full focus on James. "Who are you?" She demanded even as her eyes darted around the room and her arms twitched in her binds.

James tsked. "It really doesn't matter. Call me...John if you must."

Dolores sneered at him. "Mudblood!" She accused, her face scrunching up to twist her features. Perhaps her features were uglier than he had supposed earlier.

"Not important." James waved away. "I'm here for some information. I heard you know Grace Potter."

He watched avidly as her face did something complicated before she settled on what he assumed was supposed to be a neutral look.

Dolores’ focus was now firmly on him. "What do you want with her?" She asked, still a tinge of authority in her voice.

"I want to know what you did to earn her ire." James asked, still amiable considering she wasn’t quite working with him.

The woman frowned at him, looked him up and down and seemed to calculate something before smiling at him. He suppressed a grimace as disgust rolled through his gut, already knowing where this idiot woman was going.

"Why don't we talk about this?” Dolores purred at him. “I'm sure you don't know this, but I'm a close personal friend of the previous minister, Cornelius Fudge. Why, I could even get you in to meet Rufus Scrimgeour if you wanted!"

"Yes, yes." James said tiredly. "Power and prestige, yada yada. I do believe that wasn't what I asked."

She tried to sit up straighter but managed to only wiggle in her seat. "You haven't asked me anything."

"Alright. What did you do to Grace Potter to earn her ire? Was that better? More direct? I suppose sometimes it is necessary to spell it out for certain people." James said with a pointed look. He had had higher hopes for this woman. Then again, she had tortured his Grace, so he wasn’t sure why he had expected more from her.

"I didn't do anything. The girl is a menace, unhinged!" Dolores snarled angrily, clearly still holding a grudge.

James sighed deeply in disappointment. "Of course she is." He had really hoped for a different outcome, but Dolores was turning out to be a run-of-the-mill captive bargaining for her life.

"You have no idea! She runs her own little gang of miscreants! She believes she's above the Ministry and blatantly breaks the law in favour of Dumbledore!" She ranted, clearly feeling the change in James’ attitude.

"Well, this is clearly not going to go anywhere. I had hoped you would work with me, but it's quite obvious you harbour your own little vendetta against Grace." James said on a sigh as he flicked out his wand and started to twirl it between his fingers.

Her eyes widened in fear and blood drained from her face. "I am working with you! You wanted to know about Grace Potter!" She beseeched.

James ignored her as he raised his wand and muttered “_Legilimens_”. He ripped into her mind uncaring of the damage he left in his wake, more concerned with finding what he wanted than the state he would be leaving her mind in once he left.

What he found was abominable. A blood quill. On his Grace. For_ months_. Where had Albus been? Minerva? Fucking _Snape_? A school full of people who should have noticed and turned a blind eye instead. He saw how much Dolores enjoyed her torture, how she used the Slytherin’s, how the power had quickly gone to her head. Saw how the mad woman had fallen for a simple trap. Saw how his Grace had used her as an emotional drain.

The power Grace had.

The strength she possessed.

_He wanted._

He tore out of the witch's mind, uncaring of the agony she displayed or her wails of pain. It was the least she deserved. James sat back and watched Dolores, took his time to filter his thoughts as he remembered Grace's look when he took her hand, caressed the words and told her to open herself up to him. He understood her reaction just a little more now and was quietly thankful of that since he wouldn't make a misstep like that again. What he needed now was to prove to Grace that his intentions were true. He had been struggling to find the perfect Courting gift, but what better gift than Dolores?

It wasn't what he came here for, but now that he was here, now that he had seen what the bitch had done to his Grace. Well. It was almost serendipitous, wasn't it? Besides, if he couldn't kill the Dursley's yet, he would just have to take this as foreplay for the big event. His enjoyment of the act was almost a second thought. Almost. For what she had done to his Grace, well, he would enjoy every minute of it.

"For every drop of blood you loose tonight, I want you to really remember how you felt while you watched Grace carve those words into her own hand. I want you to remember how much pain and anguish you were responsible for. I want you to think of all the nightmares she had on your behalf. I want you to really feel the blood leaving your body and wonder how a child of just fifteen could handle loosing that amount of blood while you just sat there, smirking through her pain."

"Pl-please, please do-don't d-do this! I can h-help!" The witch moaned out, stuttering her way through her pain and fear.

"Dearest, this isn't a negotiation, this is an execution." James replied genially. "Perhaps, if you didn't want any sort of retaliation, you should have considered your actions just a little bit better. I would allow you the opportunity to change, of course-"

"Yes! Yes! I will, I will change. Anything, I swear it, I'll vow it!" She interrupted quickly, desperate for anything to save her.

"-it's simply too late for any of that. I've seen the proposals on your desk Dolores. Habits such as yours tend to become personality traits." He continued while ignoring a now sobbing Dolores. "Enough of that, shall we begin? Shall I show you why you chose the wrong person to target?"

"I didn't! I didn't! It was Cornelius! Cornelius made me! He even gave me the quill! He did it! He wanted me to discredit Potter!" She sobbed out, tears and snot running down her flushed face even as her eyes pleaded mercy.

"Let's start with a small curse, shall we? How about one to maximize the sensory receptors of the nerves? _Receptor Maximize Sensuale_.” James intoned as a blue spell hit her.

Dolores gasped and stopped trying to get out of the ropes holding her tight, her eyes wide and fear pouring out of every cell.

"Yes, I'm sure that makes twisting in your binds a bit more difficult, doesn't it? How about this then?" James asked as he silently sent an orange spell her way. "That one was called _Interitus Organa_. Have you heard of it?"

Dolores opened her mouth to answer when she felt heat gather in her gut. "What did you do? _WHAT DID YOU DO_?" She screamed through her tears, trying desperately to get out of her binds despite the agony it now caused her. Every twinge to her wrists probably felt like knives digging into her writs, over and over again.

"It's actually a funny sort of spell. The intention of it was to help people lose weight by shrinking their stomachs. What it actually does is slowly decay your organs." James said as he leaned forward in his seat and cocked his head, looking at her like one would an odd specimen.

"Why are you doing this?" She sobbed out pathetically through her pain and terror.

"I can't being to imagine what that must feel like when you're feeling as sensitive as you are right now, but needs must dearest.” He told her with a casual shrug of his shoulders. “You might be happy to learn that this curse takes a week or so to complete." Dolores seemed to sag in her binds at that news. "Then again, you might not have a week. You know, people who want power always assume it’s about the position they’ll have when they finally reached the top. The feeling of being able to do things you otherwise couldn’t."

Dolores choked on her own spit and increased her struggles. James sighed at her exertion and wondered why she hadn’t yet figure out that there was no escape for her. "It is about the act of overpowering another human being and forcing your will on them while they are helpless. It’s triumph and glory, a high that lasts only so long until they want to do it again, like a drug. You did that to Grace; you used your power to overpower her autonomy and forced your will on hers. Not so much fun when it's the other way around is it?"

"It was C-Cor-Cornelius." Dolores stammered, clearly tiring.

James sighed loudly as he shot two consecutively spells at her. "Take responsibility for your own actions Dolores!"

"What did you do? What are you doing to me?" She asked, hysteria coming back with each spell that hit her.

"You didn't pay too much attention when we started did you? I'm torturing you. As for what I did? Well, the first one, _Et Sanguinem Exhaurire_, is a nifty curse that randomly opens a deep cut somewhere on your body. It drains you of just enough blood to keep you alive and then slowly closes again. The second, _Satiata Sanguinem_, replenishes that blood so we can keep this going for some time. It will almost feel like your very own blood quill. Ingenious, isn't it? A pity then that it takes a few hours to kick in. I suppose you can only hope to last long enough for it to work. "

"You're crazy! You're a lunatic!" She screamed at him, one apparent final attempt to make him react.

James hummed in thought while he narrowed his eyes at her. "I'm not sure you need to speak. _Praeceptor Perimus Pulmonis._" He watched, pleased, as Dolores suddenly choked and began throwing up water, struggling to breathe between each new expulsion of water. "There now, much better. I hope you like it, since I hear having your lungs fill with water is particularly unnerving." He tapped his wand on his chin in thought. "I still don't think it's enough though." Dolores frantically shook her head between bouts of throwing up and James laughed in delight. "Yes, I think you'll like this one. It's a mild electrocution charm. I would say curse since I doubt it will feel much different from the cruciatus with all the other curses I've spelled on you tonight, but you were a teacher and precision is important. It works in pulses. Every few minutes it will produce a shock. _Inpulsa Nervi Pulsus_.” James intoned as a brown light hit its target.

For the next hour James watched, pleased, as Dolores fell apart. Finally the bloodletting curse kick in and he got to enjoy an even more panicked Dolores as she realized what was happening. Not that she could do much, what with the pathetic state she was in. He cancelled the dry drowning, wanting her to really focus on the result of her blood loss.

“And to think, you tortured her for hours, months on end. If you can’t even handle a little agony at your age, how do you expect a fifteen year old to handle it?”

"I'll tell you everything you want to know." Dolores slurred out, her body hanging on the chair, twitching even as her blood pooled beneath her chair.

"Oh dearest." James replied, crooning darkly as stood up and stood next to her, stroking her matted hair. "I have all the information I want."

"I can help." She croaked brokenly, her voice almost gone.

James laughed delightedly. "You don't really think any of this will help you, do you? Dearest, this is only the beginning. I'm going to make this last. Don't worry," he added as he walked back to his chair while righting his shirt, "you don't have to like it as much as I will. It's getting late though and I can't be missed for too much longer. How about we pick this up tomorrow night, hm?" He asked rhetorically before cursing her with a dark nightmare curse, one that wouldn't let up until he cancelled it himself.

Dolores screamed as loudly as she could before she couldn't scream at all.

**\---******---**

It was two weeks later and Grace felt like her head would explode. In all fairness, the rest of her life had calmed somewhat as she found a rhythm to working on House responsibilities and reading through the vast amount of fan letters she was going through daily. There hadn't been anything printed about her or Voldemort in the papers, James had dropped his stupid attempts at pushing her to find a mind healer (she actually suspected it had something to do with her mentioning Dumbledore, but she'd take it) and she had managed to have an actual proper conversation with Remus about the past.

No, what was actually driving her up the wall were two people: Ron and Mr. Weasley. Well, to be fair, between Ron's now outright and blatant hatred of James and Mr Weasley's futile attempts to get her to 'confess' to Snape about her parentage, it was actually Ron's terrible attempts at flirting that were driving her crazy.

Grace really didn't know what it was but a few weeks ago Ron had suddenly decided to stop being subtle about showing his interest in her. Although according to Hermione, he really hadn't been all that subtle before, she just hadn't noticed anything. Which seemed pretty accurate actually.

It did make her uneasy, Ron's attention. Not because he was so blatant, but because she really didn't see him as anything more than a friend and his oppressive interest made her wary to even be around him since he showed no understanding of the reasons she denied him time and again. These days she woke up dreading the moment she'd have to see or interact with Ron. Before Hermione spilled the beans, she had thought of him in terms of having a brother and it baffled her that through all of their years together and her very much not showing interest, he still felt it was alright to push her the way he was.

Hermione didn't help matters either by collapsing into a fit of giggles every time he did manage to flirt with her and to make matters worse, James' cutting words turned awful flirting into fighting that really put the icing on an unwanted cake. Every time Ron caught a moment alone with her, miraculously either James or Remus (sometimes both) would pop up out of nowhere and the flirting Ron had been attempting would be waylaid by the intense need to discredit James and keep him away from Grace.

It didn't help matters in the least that both men had taken to touching her whenever they were in the same room as her which made Ron believe they had sexual designs on her (because an arm around her shoulders or a hug was clearly sexual in the eyes of Ron and his suspicious mind).

He had voiced this once, in a room filled with Order members and the silence had been so damning that even he had realized he had said the wrong thing. That is, that he had voiced it at the wrong time, not that the thought itself was wrong as evidenced the next day when he pulled her aside and 'helpfully' told her they were weird sex-crazed old men who wanted her for their own needs. The fact that she frequently let them touch her seemed to prove Ron's point.

Ever since her conversation with James and Remus (separately) she'd slowly started to allow them back into her day-to-day activities. The short conversation she'd had with James on the night of her birthday hadn't really cleared anything up. James was still adamant that he was right and Grace very much didn't want him poking his nose in anything in her life. By an unspoken agreement, neither of them brought up Grace's abuse, not because James didn't want her to get help but because of the way she'd blown up at him. Honestly, she didn't care why he didn't, she was just hopeful he'd continue to keep his mouth shut.

While on an intellectual level she was aware of what he was proposing and how his (rather thoughtless) actions might have pushed her to get the help she needed, it had done the opposite. Part of it was the fear of being found out and part of it was simply that she didn't want nor need his help. She hadn't needed help in years and she'd found her own ways of coping that worked just fine.

The thing was, and it was something that she knew James just didn't understand, that she was first and foremost a survivor. She had survived the Dursley's and she would never have to go back there again. She was out and she was safe, the right safe this time with the knowledge that nothing in heaven and hell could ever make her go back. She was _out_. The situation was over now, she didn't someone to tell her that she was safe because she had made sure she was, she was the person that had made her safe and she also didn't need anyone else telling her things she already knew about her own life.

Again, intellectually she knew that at some point her coping mechanisms wouldn't work anymore but on an emotional level she just didn't care. She could, _would_, hang on long enough to see Voldemort dead. Permanently this time.

Remus was another matter entirely. Their conversation hadn't solved anything because his actions were over a decade in the past but she also couldn't absolve him of any guilt since she couldn't understand his reasoning. To her, growing up as she had, there simply was no excuse for leaving her there, no excuse for leaving a baby with strangers, muggles, and ignoring her for thirteen years.

She was still angry, still resentful, but she also understood that she couldn't change the past and she'd either have to get over it or cut Remus out. While she had let go of her anger and made amends, she didn't know if that was enough to let go of the knowledge that because of Remus' selfishness, she spent the past sixteen years being abused. It wasn't right to lay that at his feet, but it also didn't feel right to not assign him blame at all. He was the last of them, the last Marauder, and he had abandoned her when she needed him most. Past or not, how was she supposed to be ok with that?

She didn't have those answers because it wasn't logical, it was emotional. While James broke through every barrier she'd had, he had done it for the right reasons (even if those reasons were uninformed, his heart had been in the right place). James had been easier to accept and easier to get past, particularly since they discussed his reasoning and her reaction and both agreed to never bring it up again until the war was over. She'd have to wait and see where Remus fell, whether she would choose with her head or her heart.

One of the things she was most looking forward to now that the summer days were racing quickly to and end, was how James would finally officially Court her. He'd been skirting around the issue for a few weeks now and only gave her a cheeky wink and a smirk whenever she brought it up, but since their fight two weeks ago, he had come up to her one morning and told her to keep a look out for her gift.

She'd been confused and questioned him something fierce but that stupid smirk had shown up again and he preached patience to her right before she smacked his arm with the heaviest book she could find. Patience was not a virtue when the man who wanted to formally Court you had finally decided on a Courting gift.

"Hey Gracie." Ron said, suddenly plopping down beside her on the couch.

She had retreated from all the chaos and mayhem that was caused by living with several exuberant personalities and was finally winding down in her little corner of the library when Ron had to come and ruin her peace. Grace forced back a sigh as she slowly marked and closed the book she was reading on etiquette, something she had taken to doing ever since James had not-so-secretly told her to watch for the official gift as a signal of their formal Courting.

"Hey Ron. Did you need something mate?" Ever since his more exuberant attempts at flirtation, Grace had started to try and subtly tell him (in almost every sentence) that she only saw him as her friend. Unluckily, she was terrible at subtlety and he was terrible at picking it up, which forced her into quite an uncomfortable stalemate. Like her wanting to get away from him and him wanting to pull her in closer.

"Nah, just wanted to spend some time with my Gracie." He replied, grinning at her while his arm fell across her shoulders.

She winced in response. Not good. "Ron, mate, could you move your arm?" Grace asked him, shifting a little to dislodge it without being rude despite wanting very much to be rude. She'd tried the politely non-subtle subtle route and now she was verging on the blatant 'please get away from me' route.

"Why? Is it in the way?" He wondered as he grabbed her shoulder and hauled her closer to him as he clearly ignored her attempts at distance.

"Uh, yes, in a manner of speaking." Grace said absently as she tried to get his arm off of her without resorting to violence. She really, _really_ didn't appreciate him touching her like he was: proprietary and smothering. Not even James did that and he was the most possessive man she had ever met!

"Gracie, there's something I've been meaning to ask you." He said, both confidently and nervous at the same time.

She cringed even as she still fought to get out from under him. She knew exactly where this was going and had been going out of her way to avoid this very scenario.

"Ron, you're my _brother_, you can ask me anything." She told him, putting extra emphasis on brother. "In fact, I think of you as _family_. I can't wait for you to try and be a big _brother_ and scare away a date!" She gushed, really putting it out there for him, a last hurrah before violence became her only option. He blinked at her, his face turning a little red as she smiled at him.

"Brother?" He asked, confused. She nodded at him, still smiling and hoping that this time it would finally penetrate his thick skull. "Gracie, will you go out with me?"

Her jaw dropped in shock. "Ron, what? Did you...did you not hear what I was just saying?"

"I heard you. I think you're wrong though, and going out with me will change your mind." He told her firmly. "Give me a shot Gracie."

"I don't think I'll be allowing that. What about you, Moony?" James asked, leaning casually against one of the bookcases. Remus appeared behind him, smirking and looking a little more wild than usual.

Grace almost sighed in relief, using Ron's distraction to finally put some space between them. Without wondering how it might look, she practically jumped up from her seat, her book still in her hands, and made her escape. A hand gripping her elbow tightly had her stopping and looking back, almost resigned at what was going to happen since she knew the steps to this dance intimately.

"I don't think that it's any of your business what Gracie does." Ron said, his face flushing an ugly red and his voice low and mean. James smiled at that and laughed, Remus joining him a mere second later.

"Not his business? Boy, you do know that he's her father? She _is_ his business. Beyond that, she would need parental approval and an escort if she ever agreed to Court you." Remus said, stepping towards them and pulling Grace from his hold. He rubbed the spot she had been held with his own hand and then pulled her into a hug. Relaxing against him, she felt him smile into her hair before he kissed her forehead. Ron made a choking noise and she turned towards him.

"What are you doing?!" Ron yelled at her. She frowned at him and looked up at Remus before looking back at him.

"Hugging Remus?" She asked him. Was it not obvious what she was doing?

His ears had turned bright red and an angry sneer crossed his face. "You let him kiss you!"

"You mean the kiss on my head? The kiss that any person gives another as a comforting gesture? That kiss?" Grace asked him, her voice turning hard.

"Yes, that kiss! You won't let me touch you but you let them practically feel you up and you do nothing!"

James rolled his eyes and moved away from his spot, coming to stand in front of Ron and, conveniently, between Grace, Remus, and Ron.

"You truly are the stupidest boy I've ever met. Not even Snape was this stupid."

Ron spluttered at this, his red face deepening in anger and embarrassment.

"Gracie, say something!" He demanded, looking past James and into her conflicted eyes. Sure, she could help him, explain things to him, but he would only get the impression that he had a chance with her and she really didn't feel like doing that. On the other hand, Ron was her first friend and she figured he deserved her loyalty, no matter how awkward their friendship had become. Then again, thinking of everything he put her through in the last two weeks she couldn’t help but feel thoroughly done with him and if it took James and Remus to make him see he didn't stand a chance, well, she'd just leave it to them.

"_My_ Grace." James growled at Ron, taking a threatening step forward. Ron made a choking sound and before Grace could decide whether or not to step in, James took her options away.

"Moony, Ronald here seems confused as to what a kiss looks like. I think we should help him with that, don't you think?"

The wolf grinned lazily and chuffed out an agreement, one hand cupping Grace's cheek and the other firmly on her hips. Before she could do more than stare at him in puzzlement, he leaned down and firmly pressed his lips to hers. She gasped in shock, allowing Remus to dip his tongue into her mouth and teach her exactly what a kiss was. She let out a noise that she was sure was distress, but could have been pleasure, as the hand on her hip wrapped around her waist and pulled her close. The hand on her cheek wrapped in her hair and grounded her to the new sensations Remus was giving her. As he deepened the kiss, she distantly heard a noise coming from Ron and the distinct sounds of spells coming from James. While Remus refused to stop kissing her, making her feel lightheaded and a little aroused, she felt James crowd her from behind, his hands smoothing over her hips as he placed kisses on her neck. She moaned at the assault to her senses and grabbed on to Remus’ arms to help steady herself, even though she was wrapped tightly between the two men. Remus finally broke the kiss and leaned his forehead against hers.

"Was that ok cub?" He asked, his voice hoarse and a little rough. Moony was close to the surface. James smiled into her neck.

"I think she enjoyed that quite a lot, didn't you darling?" He asked her, kissing her just under her jaw and then on her cheek. She nodded in response, still a little dazed and trying to catch her breath.

"Was he really that good? Should we check to see if it was a fluke?" James asked her before turning her head and claiming her lips.

She mewled in protest but didn't try to get out of their hold. He sucked at her bottom lip, worried it, and then kissed her more forcefully than Remus had. Where Remus had taken his time to sooth and excite, James was all teeth and tongue and hot desire. She grabbed on tighter to anchor herself on Remus, making sure she wouldn't fall to the ground in a puddle of want. Because she did want. Wanted them both closer, two firm bodies holding her tight and making her take whatever they gave her.

Then, as if hit by lightning, she wrenched her body away from them and put enough distance between all of them to let her head clear. They had kissed her! _Kissed_! She was panting heavily and her mind was racing too quickly to catch anything more than desire, a deep shame, and a building anger at what they had done.

This was so far out of the 'ok' zone for Courting that she had to wonder if James even stood a chance after that display. They shouldn't even be in the same room unchaperoned and here he was devouring her mouth! After everything that happened between them she could understand, somewhat, how this had happened, but instead of being something between just them, suddenly it involved Remus and Ron! This was not okay! It was a little ok, but a lot not okay and she needed someone to help her figure out why she was suddenly objecting so much and what the _hell_ she was feeling because this was something she really couldn't deal with on her own.

She lifted her head when they moved closer to her and she put out a hand as she took a few steps back.

"No! I need to think about this." She stated firmly. "You need to give me time. And space. Lots of space."

Fleeing the room after the hurried statement, she ran up the stairs and wanted to collapse on her bed when two things occurred to her. One: Hermione was in her room, and two: Ron had seen Remus and James kiss her.

"Remus and James just kissed me!" She blurted out as she frantically paced up and down the length of the room, wringing her hands in an agitated motion.

Hermione didn't turn around from her place on the bed but she did hum an acknowledgement. She flipped the page of the book she was reading.

"They always kiss you." She said lightly.

"On the lips! And Ron saw!" Not knowing what to do had made her tongue very loose, she decided as Hermione whirled around into a seated position and stared at her in abject horror.

"Your father _kissed you on the lips_?!" Hermione screeched out.

Grace cringed. Right, she didn't know. "No!"

"He didn't kiss you on the lips?" She asked confused, calming down slightly.

Grace shook her head. "Well, no, he did that. Used his tongue and everything."

"Grace!"

"I meant he's not my father!" Grace blurted out before she let herself get sidetracked by whatever Hermione had been thinking.

"He-he's not-good lord, Grace! I know you keep a lot things close to the vest, but this one is a little ridiculous, even for you!" Hermione stated even as she sat upright on the bed, watching Grace with a frown and quite a bit of judgement.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Grace asked, sliding quickly from worried to outraged as she stared at her best friend.

"You're called Grace Potter, the Potter part seems to indicate a father figure of the same name." Hermione said slowly, apparently not wanting to offend her but also wanting to point out a truth.

"I went and got an inheritance test at Gringotts. James isn't my father." Grace said curtly, even if her tone had a bit more bite to it than she had thought.

Hermione's eyes bulged. "Right then, I was in the wrong. James isn't your father and he's just kissed you."

"It gets worse."

"It can't possibly."

"Snape's my father."

"I stand horribly corrected. I think I need to be obliviated and relocated to a place where they've never heard of you." Hermione moaned as she flopped back onto the bed.

"I suggest a jungle or an island." Grace offered as she starfished herself next to Hermione on the bed.

"Someone was laughing when they made you." Hermione told her in her wisest voice. "So if he's not your father, and how long have you know that little fact might I ask, and you certainly like him enough to let him kiss you, why did you barge in here like your soul was getting Dementor-ed?"

"Since the beginning of summer. Turns out I'm the new Lord Black as well."

"Grace!" Hermione scolded her tiredly. "You can't keep throwing new information at me like that! First the not-incestuous kiss, then Snape is your father, and now you're a Lord! How do you even function?"

"Honestly, I have no idea. It's a miracle I haven't tossed the whole magical world aside and decided to live as a muggle. Preferable somewhere sunny."

"Island life?" Hermione asked sarcastically. Grace could only smile weakly at her. "Right, first thing: Remus AND James?"

"Yes."

"Did you like it?"

"Very much."

"The problem?"

A half shrug. "Desire, shame, anger?"

"Right. Desire and shame are easy. You're attracted to both of them and because of who they are you feel like you're not supposed to want them." Hermione reasoned.

Grace nodded even though she had gotten over James' true identity some time ago. "The not-father thing is a real mind bomb." The problem, she reasoned to herself, was most likely liking that Remus had kissed her in despite not feeling quite the same way for him that she felt for James. Or actually, not knowing that Remus had had those feelings for her at all. She had just figured he saw her as his cub, not a potential mate.

Hermione snorted and rolled her eyes. "Not-father." She muttered. "Do you know why you're angry?" Grace shook her head in denial. "Right, tell me what happened before the kiss."

Grace wrinkled her nose and told her best friend about Ron and the confrontation.

Hermione looked thoughtful and hummed. "So are you angry because they kissed you to prove to Ron that you belong to them, or are you angry that they think you belong to them without you ever having had the choice to decide if you wanted that or not?"

"Merlin, that's complicated." Grace muttered before thinking about it. "Both? I don't like being an object and I think I feel a little hurt that I had my first real kiss because they were trying to prove something to Ron. Cedric doesn't count either. And when did I decide I wanted to be with them?" She added angrily. She wasn't quite sure how much to divulge to Hermione about Courting and James and how close they were to it being official. One shock at a time, as they say.

"You decided that when you let them do whatever they wanted with you."

"What? I don't do that." Grace replied, a little affronted even as she started to think back on her own actions. Did she do that? She couldn't remember doing that.

"Grace, you walk into a room and one of them gets up to place you between them. If it's ever possible, you're constantly wrapped in one of their arms. If you're not, they're always touching you in some way and you never say a word of objection. If you compare that to the time Tonks put her arm around your shoulders and you almost jumped out of your skin at the contact, don't you think you've told them it's ok even if you didn't say the words out loud?"

"I...I never really thought of it like that. Still, I never said the words so the very least they should have done was ask!" Grace raged. Even if she had never said the words, it was up to her and only her to give them permission, not for them to simply take it because they assumed she'd say yes without saying the damn words!

"Not to put a damper on our conversation," Hermione said with an ironic tone, "but I've been thinking for a while that they've been...well, that they trying to..."

"Groom me? Mould me?"

"Yes! Ah...not that that's a good thing, of course." Hermione added hastily, clearly not wanting to offend.

"Relax, I knew what you meant." Grace said as she rolled her eyes. "I did see it myself."

"But you don't care?"

Grace sighed as she tried to put into words how James, mostly, and Remus made her feel. "Not quite. They make me feel safe."

"That's the point, you know." Hermione said with a pointed look.

"Quiet you. I know that, but it's different. I feel like I can sink into them and get lost and they would still hold me and find me and put me back together again."

Hermione's face cleared as she nodded in understanding. "You think they can fix you."

"Is that bad?" She asked softly, scared of the answer.

"Grace..." Hermione hesitated. "You're not broken." Grace could only laugh at her. "Ok, you're slightly broken. You do some really weird things. Like forgetting to tell your best friend about how your not-father and not-uncle are perving on you in the extreme and you like it."

"Sirius did it too, you know." Grace said conversationally as she lifted her head to look at her best friend.

"Of course he did." Hermione said with a dejected sigh. "That actually explains why you latched onto James so quickly." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"So it's weird?"

"Well, it's definitely not normal." She glanced at Grace's expression and sighed. "But...I don't think it's bad. At least not for you. It kind of fits in with your crazy life."

"Thanks Mione." Grace replied, only slightly sarcastically.

"If Wormtail starts doing this to you too then we know it's clearly a Marauders problem and we should have them all checked out."

Grace snorted. "If Wormtail comes near me I'm burning him at the stake."

"Bloodthirsty." Hermione said with an approving nod. "So are we going to talk about Snape being your father and you being Lord Black? Are you going to tell Snape?"

"Not a chance. The goblins said I didn't need to tell anyone so I refuse to tell him." And as long as she could hold Mr. Weasley off for.

"Don't you think he'd like to know?" Hermione asked cautiously.

"Does a smoker want to know he has lung cancer?" She retorted with a snort of derision.

"That's a terrible analogy." Hermione said, appalled.

"Works, though. He's bullied me for the past five years, Mione. He gave me detention for breathing too loudly once and then kept me until after curfew, only to take points from me for being out after curfew and then gave me detention again. He's mean, and petty, and cruel, and I really don't want to know what would happen to me if he found out. Could you imagine me living with him?"

Hermione cringed. "I imagine several explosions."

"One of us would not come out of the experience alive."

Hermione sighed deeply. "Will you tell him once you become of age?"

Grace winced. "Ah. Right."

"Oh Christ, there's more." Hermione almost wailed.

"Remember the TriWizard Tournament?"

"Hard to forget." Hermione snorted.

"Well, since there were several ministry officials, the Headmaster, and an ancient magical contract that stated if I was chosen I was clearly a legal adult, magic decided to make it real."

"Make what real?"

"My status as an adult."

"You mean to tell me that because all those...people didn't object to you being chosen and the magical contract stated you had to be of legal age, magic decided that you had better be of legal age?"

"Sounds about right. I'm emancipated." Grace told her proudly, puffing out her chest.

"Since fourth year." Hermione stated, eyeing her with exasperation. Grace nodded. "And you still went back to the Dursley’s? You hate going back there."

"Well, I had to. First because I didn't know, then because I didn't have the money, and now because I don't want Dumbledore to know."

"There's so much wrong with what you just said." Hermione mumbled, rubbing her head. "Let me guess, you have the money now?"

"Billionaire." Grace said, pointing at her self. Hermione made a squeaking noise and then ignored the statement. Probably to save her sanity. Grace didn't want to judge.

"Why don't you want Dumbledore to know?"

"Haven't you ever wondered how three eleven year-olds managed to by-pass teacher enchantments. Mastery level enchantments? Or how a troll came into a school? Or how an ancient giant snake was living in the school? Or how in fifty years nobody thought to ask the dead teenage girl ghost how she died and thus finding out where the Chamber was, even if they couldn't get in? And if they did know, why on earth keep the entrance to the Chamber open to the female students? Why not just close the damn space so it wouldn't ever happen again? What about getting rid of the 'monster' because we both know that Dumbledore didn't think Hagrid did it since he hired him after the fact? That's not even pointing out that they could have hired people to take care of the problem, investigate. They're wizards, are you really telling me that getting a professional out to the school would have been impossible? Not to mention how they let that stupid Defense curse last almost fifty years and they haven't done anything to fix it. Can you really tell me that in fifty years there hasn't been some kind of new innovative magic that could have helped? Wizards from different parts of the world that could give them a different perspective on how to solve it? For all we know just changing the name or changing classrooms would be enough." Grace ranted, throwing her hands up in the air in aggravation.

"Alright, alright, I see your point. He's a terrible wizard." Hermione said soothingly, hoping to calm her ire.

"He's a terrible Headmaster who's playing the long con and keeps putting us in danger." Grace corrected, holding up her hand and letting the scarred words become visible to her friend.

"Wizards suck." Hermione decided with a wince at seeing the scar.

Grace nodded. That sounded about right, despite it being a witch that had scarred her hand. "It's not that I don't trust him, I think I still do, I just don't trust him to keep my best interests at heart when I'm one of the many cogs he's got in the works." Grace sighed deeply before changing the subject, not wanting to dwell too much on something that made her angry.

"So what do I do?"

"About Dumbledore?" Hermione asked mildly.

Grace scrunched up her nose in disgust. "Ew, no! About James and Remus!"

Hermione, the traitor, only laughed at her disgust. "Are you still feeling shame?"

Grace thought about it. "Not so much since I talked to you."

"Anger?"

"Oh yes, still angry." Grace nodded quickly. It still felt like they had taken something away from her that they hadn't had any rights to begin with.

"So here's what you do. You walk up to them and yell at them." Hermione told her firmly.

"What? I can't do that!" Grace said, horrified with just the thought. She didn't mind yelling at James because he clearly should have known better and probably let his jealously get in the way of proper etiquette, but Remus was a werewolf and had completely different courting rituals. She really hoped that didn't involve a large dead animal on her doorstep because she'd been through enough in her lifetime.

"Sure you can. You yell at them for using your first real kiss as a way to put Ron in his place, and how utterly disappointing they are to you." Hermione said with a confident nod.

"That sounds harsh." Grace said, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.

"Do you feel like that?" Hermione asked, eyeing her carefully.

"Yes."

"Then ignore the harsh. They need to hear it otherwise they'll keep doing it." Hermione shrugged.

"What do I do about Ron?"

"Nothing." Hermione stated firmly.

"Nothing?" Graced parroted dubiously.

"In all likelihood, James has already obliviated Ron's memory of the kiss because they don't want the rest of the house, including the Order, to know what they're doing." Hermione said as she shrugged her shoulders.

Grace hummed as she wondered exactly how much Hermione had been picking up these last few weeks that she seemed to know exactly what James would do. "That makes sense."

"Logic, that's me." Hermione said rolling her eyes.

"Do you want to be snogged by someone?" Grace asked out of the blue.

Hermione spluttered at bit at the change in topic. "Only a little."

"How little?" Grace questioned.

"I want to throw myself at him and I want him to push me against the wall and snog the life out of me and have very kinky sex."

"Woah. That's a lot of information." Grace said, a little taken aback at her friends’ honesty.

"Ah, how the tables have turned!" Hermione said in glee, relishing the fact that she had clearly shocked Grace.

"Kinky sex, huh? Are you even ready for sex?" Grace asked, not delving into the kinky part because she wasn't sure she wanted to know much more about that.

"I read a lot." Hermione said, answering the unasked question. "Are you ready for sex?" Hermione shot back with a raised eyebrow before Grace could comment on her reading choices. Hell, should she be reading those sorts of things?

"No, not yet. Not for a while yet, I think. There's a lot to unpack there."

"But you like the kissing and the, um, petting?"

Grace nodded with a small smile on her lips. "I like it a lot."

"I've had a bit more experience with a couple of muggle boys in the kissing and petting department." Hermione told her softly, like it was a secret she hadn't thought she would be divulging.

"Oh. Was it nice?" Did all boys know how to snog? Grace didn't think so, but ever since she discovered magic, she figured everything had about an 85% chance of being true.

Hermione snorted. "About as nice as you and Cedric."

"Ah. Wet." They looked at each other and giggled madly. "So, who's the lucky lad?"

"You'll laugh at me." Hermione told her, trepidation in her eyes.

"Hardly. Well, maybe laugh." Grace adjusted after a moments thought.

"Neville."

"Neville?! Wow!" Grace said, her jaw almost dropping open in shock.

"Told you you'd laugh." Hermione said with a defiant edge to her tone.

"I'm most definitely not laughing. I'm stunned."

"I know it seems unlikely, but he's really grown since first year, and did you know he was the first friend I ever made? And he doesn't mind my know-it-all attitude and he lets me help him with his homework and he helps me with Herbology and Wizarding customs and etiquette."

"Word vomit is a problem for us." Grace told her seriously. Hermione nodded even as she sighed.

"So what should I do?" Hermione finally asked as they both sat in silence for a bit, digesting...everything.

"Does he know you like him?"

"He may not be as dense as Ron, but he's still male."

"Yeah, I don't have that problem." Grace said a little smugly even though she was still a little unsure about her situation.

Hermione snorted. "No, you have two stalkers who are slowly grooming you to...do whatever they have planned."

"Oh, did I tell you that James thinks it's a good idea to go to Voldemort for help?"

"Chri-wha-GRACE!" Hermione choked out.

"I had to tell someone!" She defended herself.

"I think my head hurts. Why does he think going to Voldemort is a good idea?"

"Because apparently the prophecy is fake and Dumbledore wants to use me as a weapon to further his ideals in the Wizarding world. And that Voldemort isn't the bad guy. Supposedly."

"I think I might cry." Hermione said, staring up blankly at the ceiling.

"I won't judge." Grace replied with a shrug, staring at the same ceiling.

"This is a mess." Hermione finally said after a long silence. "It's not like we can map all of this out either."

"Why not?" Grace asked with a suddenly flash of insight. "It might actually help me decide whether or not aligning myself with Voldemort is a good idea."

"We'd need a lot more information." Hermione warned her. "Aligning with Voldemort." She added softly with a snort. "You can't align yourself with crazy."

Grace waved away her warning. "I know what's at stake, remember?" She told her, pointing to the lightning scar on her forehead.

"If we do do this we can't leave it anywhere someone can find it." Hermione cautioned.

"So we carry it with us."

"You want to map out how Dumbledore could be the bad guy, Voldemort the possibly not bad guy, how you fit into all of this, and keep it on us at all times?!"

Hermione asked a little incredulously. "That's crazy talk."

Grace nodded. "We can do it though. And I don't think Dumbledore is the bad guy, I think he's a big picture guy. Voldemort is definitely the bad guy. Murder and whatnot."

"Of course we can do it, doing it is not the problem. The problem is how." Hermione stressed, ignoring the bigger problems to probably save her sanity.

"Shrink it." Grace said simply.

"Huh." Hermione said in a wondering tone.

"Rude." Grace huffed out.

"Ok, let's transfigure it into a book. Or make it look like a book to anyone other than us. When do you want to get started?"

"Now seems like the best time."

"Right you are. Might take some time to find the right spells, though."

"Hard work never killed anyone, you know." Grace told her teasingly.

"Tell that to the Egyptians who had to build the pyramids." Hermione snorted.

"Are you ever going to do something about Neville?"

"Are we back on this?"

"I'm curious. Are you still a virgin?"

"Yes. I plan to stay that way until I'm bonded too."

"Why's that?"

"Wizarding customs."

"Meaning?" Grace prodded, having not yet come across this in any of the books she had been reading about Courting and Bonding and everything in between. Although it wasn't really surprising that Hermione found things like these since she often liked to dive into the older books to cross-reference any changes over the years. Hermione was thorough.

"It's a little antiquated and not done too often anymore except in Pureblood circles, but there's a magical component to first blood that makes a bonding magically stronger and blessed."

"Blessed how?" Grace asked, interest sparked.

"Fertility, good health, stronger magic, you name it, it's happened." Hermione said with a shrug.

"That sounds nice. Parkinson is definitely not a virgin." Grace said as she thought back to accidentally seeing Malfoy and Parkinson go at it in an alcove a few months ago. It was definitely not something she ever wanted to see again. Ever. Never again.

Hermione smirked. "I know. I sent her father a nice little note before we left for the summer about that little fact."

"You didn't!" Grace cackled madly.

"That bitch deserved it." Hermione stated with a dark smile.

"Do you know what happened?" Grace asked.

"Not yet, but seeing as she slept with Malfoy during their courtship period, it's bound to be really awful." Hermione told her with a glowing face. The witch was terrifying in that moment and Grace had trouble hiding a shiver despite being delighted by her deviousness.

"Well, that courtship is over. Is Neville in one?"

Hermione shook her head. "His grandmother wouldn't allow it. I'm hoping to convince him to start one with me."

"You do realize he likes you just as much as you like him, right?"

"Why do you think that?"

"I spend time watching people."

Hermione snorted at the understatement. "You spend time watching people to make sure they're not a threat to you."

Grace shrugged. "Same difference. My point is, he spends an unusual amount of time watching you too."

"You think?" Hermione asked, a hopeful tone to her voice that Grace was positive she was trying to hide.

"I know. I think you should make your move this year."

Hermione nodded and smiled at her. "I think I just might. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You've told me quite a lot of, frankly, disturbing information. What do you plan to do with all of it?"

"Most of it I'm going to ignore. The Snape problem isn't going anywhere anytime soon, the Dumbledore and Voldemort problem won't be a problem until either Halloween or early June, so I'm just going to ignore that too. The James and Remus problem...I think I might yell at them and then give us all some boundaries to work with."

"No drowning in your near future then?"

"No, I want to paddle around for a bit before I let them take me under."

"I hope you know how utterly fucked up this is. I should probably report this to someone."

"I thought about that too."

"And?"

"Who would we tell? Who would believe us?" Grace said with a shrug.

"That's depressing. You're the Girl-Who-Lived." Hermione replied, appalled at her friends apathy.

"I'm the girl-who-lied-and-then-told-the-truth-but-still-might-be-insane-anyway."

"Fudge?"

"Fudge." Grace agreed. "Besides that, I refuse to tell anyone that Snape is my father because it puts me in danger and puts James in danger, not to mention that both Voldemort and Dumbledore would take even more interest in me than they have already and I have no way of knowing who is safe these days."

"What a fucking mess." Hermione stated with a deep sigh.

"Fucking wizards." Grace nodded along.

"Too right. I need to drink something. Maybe have a snack. You coming with me?"

Grace snorted, but stood up with her. "You just want to watch while I yell at them."

"Of course I do, this is prime entertainment!" Hermione told her as she pulled her friend up and lightly pushed her towards the door. "I really am sorry, Grace." She said after a short silence as they made their way downstairs.

"For what?" Grace asked with a frown, looking back up at Hermione and seeing the contrite expression on her face.

"For listening to Dumbledore tell us not to send you any letters this summer. You were right, there were other ways I could have kept you up to date."

Grace smiled tiredly. "Thank you for saying that Hermione. I accept your apology."

"Thank you. Now let's go eat and yell at your stalkers."

"_Mione_!"

\---******---

It had taken a bit of back and forth for her to finally set a meeting with 'her' attorneys, but they had finally managed to set a date. It had taken as long as it had they hadn’t been able to clear their schedules for her, despite being the major backer of the firm and being their number one client. Still, it made sense that they would check out her claim to the Black estates (which is what she was assuming they were doing) and it had given her time to go over exactly what she wanted from them. All that preparation had made it easier to sit in front of them now and hammer out a deal in which she could finally start to rid herself of the burden of thirty-two unwanted minor Houses.

"So Lord Black-Gryffindor, what can we do for you?" Lord Tripe asked genially as they settled in a conference room.

"This is a rather delicate issue." Grace hedged carefully as she sat down across from her attorneys.

"Say no more." He stated as he spelled some privacy wards.

Grace's eyebrows rose in surprise and suspicion. "Do you usually wait for a possible client to tell you discretion is necessary, or am I just a special case?"

Both Lord Tripe and Mr Hitchens looked a little uncomfortable. "It's been years since a Lord Black has needed our services. We may be a little more unsettled than we would like to admit." Lord Tripe stated with a tip of head as an apology.

Grace looked at them sceptically. "That doesn't bode well for our business here today."

"We are your primary attorneys, Lord Black-Gryffindor. We are bound by word and contract to do everything in our power to help you, regardless of the situation." Mr Hitchens said firmly.

"Is that why Sirius Black spent the last thirteen years in prison?" She asked lightly, testing both their mettle and seeing to what extent she could trust them in the future.

"We regret to say that Sirius Black never actually contacted us. We had tried, for four years, to get him out but circumstances being what they were at the time, it was next to impossible." Mr Hitchens informed her gently but firmly.

"It is also an unfortunate clause in our contract with House Black that we only serve Lord Black. Seeing as Sirius Black was not Lord Black at the time and no one from House Black retained us for his case, we worked with what little leeway we had. Regrettably, it was not a lot." Lord Tripe added, his regret visible to Grace.

Grace took a deep breath as she nodded slowly. Having read the contract herself it was what she had figured but it was nice to confirm her theory. Not only that, but they hadn't been obligated in any way to help Sirius and they had still spent years and countless hours trying their best to find a way to help him. With no income on his case, Grace wasn't surprised that they hadn't continued after the four-year mark. It was longer than any other firm would have done.

"Alright. This is what I want from you." Grace said, getting down to business. "I currently have thirty-two minor Houses under my protection and in my possession."

Their eyes bulged but they managed to quickly regain their composure. "What I need from you is a legal method to give them away."

This time neither of them tried to stop their jaws from dropping. "Excuse me. I-excuse me? You want us to help you _give away thirty-two minor Houses_?" Lord Tripe asked, surprise dripping from every word.

"Yes." Grace stated shortly with a firm nod of her head.

"Right. Of course. Right." Lord Tripe nodded, as he gripped the sides of his chair and leaned back in wonderment.

"I would ask that you expand a bit. Context would be appreciated." Mr Hitchens interjected before his partner could add anything else.

"I recently went to Gringotts and learned that during the first war several individuals, who were the last of their lines, gave their Houses to me. Either as a gift or...honestly I wouldn't know what else, but they left me their damn Houses. Realistically speaking I can't take care of thirty-four Houses, not when two of them are titled and need more attention than the thirty-two combined. I neither have the time nor the inclination to slave away over these Houses day after day. The solution, therefore, is to hand them over to muggleborns who would otherwise not have standing within our world. That would be one of my conditions. The second condition is that anyone who does accept a House would be giving me their fealty for a hundred years. I am not the Lord of their House, but I am the one they will follow politically."

Both men sat back in thought as Grace took a sip of her water and let the silence breathe around her. It was nice having other people figure out the logistics to a problem she didn't want to solve. It was even nicer that neither man had spluttered that it was impossible and she would have to live with having all of these stupid Houses until she could pawn them off on her children.

"It can be done." Mr. Hitchens said slowly.

"It will take a lot of time, a lot of vetting potential individuals. We would need clearer criteria than 'muggleborn'. Age, occupation, political leanings, spouse, aspirations? All of these things should figure into the final decision." Lord Tripe warned her, clearly on the same page as his partner.

"Payment?" Grace asked, knowing from experience with her dealings with the goblins that money was something she should always hammer out first since it would leave her less shocked and outraged at the final tally.

They both looked at one another before turning to her. "It's rather unorthodox but I am getting older." Mr. Hitchens said with a wry smile. "I'd like to leave my children a legacy they can be proud of." He hedged carefully.

Grace frowned as she puzzled his statement out before her face cleared in understanding. "You want one of the Houses."

He nodded. "I do."

"As payment?" Grace clarified, because it was one thing to pay her attorneys with money and another thing entirely to hand them a ready made House, minor or not.

"This isn't a little thing you are handing out." Lord Tripe pointed out.

Grace almost rolled her eyes but managed to control herself. "Believe me sir, I know. I've been looking over the portfolios for months not to mention the responsibility that comes with taking care of a House, minor or otherwise. May I ask why only one and not both of you?"

"I already have a House of my own but Edward was never able to rise through the ranks because his wife is a muggleborn." Lord Tripe stated with an unhappy smile. "Our world can be cruel in that way. We already work for you so payment in not necessarily necessary you see."

"So why are you asking for a House then?"

"The same reason you would like to give me one." Mr. Hitchens answered shrewdly. "Not only will it stop most of the more persistent naysayers when it all comes out, but it will also promote another muggleborn to a higher status."

Grace smiled. "Not quite my reasoning, but I see your point. Alright then. What are we looking at gentlemen?"

"As stated earlier, a better rubric to choosing the individuals. Having someone politically inclined would be preferable of course, but I suspect having someone with ambition will work just as well." Lord Tripe said, getting down to business again.

"We will need to look into the legalities of passing a House onto someone else. It helps that you have stipulations for their acceptance since it is unlawful to simply 'hand them out'. We will need to inform the ministry and make a trip to Gringotts to sign over any vaults. You realize you will also be losing money, yes?" Mr Hitchens asked with narrowed eyes.

Grace chuckled. "Yes, I fully realize I will be losing money when I give away the Houses."

"Alright, then we will begin drafting contracts and start our teams on finding the necessary individuals. We will of course have to vet them, as not everyone will be right despite what they present on paper." Mr Hitchens continued, writing everything down in some sort of shorthand Grace couldn't decipher.

"That seems reasonable. Would you need me there for that?" She asked even as she hoped she wouldn't be needed for any of this.

He seemed to consider. "No. It would be better if you made the final decision instead of being involved with the culling."

"Stay out of your hair, in other words." Grace nodded and was silently grateful for them not handing her more work. "What would you need from me then?"

"I believe your presence will only be required during contract negotiations and the final choice of whom would receive a House." Lord Tripe said after a short glance at his partner.

Grace nodded. "That's acceptable. I would like you to keep me updated on all progress you make and I would like written confirmation stipulating everything we've discussed today. Will you be writing a different contract between the two of us for the payment House or will it be in line with the others?"

"As payment would make it different in that sense, however the stipulations you will place on my acceptance of the House will stand, so in essence there will be no difference." Mr. Hitchens answered even as he continued to write everything down.

"Alright. If that's all you need from me?" Grace asked, already getting up.

"For the moment." He stated with a firm nod. "I would request a meeting two months from now so we can go over what we've accumulated and go over the preliminary contracts for any changes. It's better to catch these things early on instead of changing entire sections later."

"Makes sense. Thank you for your time and I'll send an owl to confirm the date later." Grace said as she stood up and shook hands with the two gentlemen.

"Thank you, Lord Black-Gryffindor." He said with a slightly bemused look and a shake of his head before calling someone to show her out.

The meeting, while short, was exactly what she had hoped it would be. Not only was it possible to get rid of thirty-two headaches, she also wasn't the one responsible for figuring out how to get it done. It was honestly the best of both worlds and the thought that it was actually going to work made her so giddy that she nearly skipped out of the building.

\---******---

"How are your plans progressing, Lord Potter?" Lucius Malfoy asked, pouring himself a drink.

"Quite well, thank you for asking Lord Malfoy." James answered with a smirk he knew would infuriate the older wizard.

Said wizard looked over at him and huffed in annoyance. They both knew how James could get when he got playful. Luckily for both their sakes, Lord Voldemort chose that moment to enter the room.

"James. Good, you're on time." He nodded to Lucius and accepted the drink he had been handed, ignoring Lucius' half-second hesitation at handing his drink over before realizing he could simply pour another.

"I aim to please." James answered. Both men snorted in disbelief.

"You have never wanted to please anyone in your entire life. You found a way around your own death, for Merlin's sake." Lucius said in exasperation.

James shrugged. "I had plans to complete. Frankly, this way has been easier. Harder in some ways, but easier in the long run."

"It has always been about the long run with you, hasn't it?" Voldemort asked shrewdly.

"What's the point in thinking about the short term? If I intend to have and keep what I want, I need to make sure everything falls into line. That requires me to make sure my plans work."

"Like befriending the mutt?" Lucius asked in a light voice, making what he considered a dig at James' dead best friend.

James simply waved away the comment. "Besides the fact that we were eleven, Black had his merits and in the end his actions have benefited my plans so I don't mind how it all played out."

"Of course not." Voldemort rolled his eyes. "How are your plans fairing?"

"Reasonably well. She's well within my grasp and falling from Albus' as we speak. She has taken up Headship for several Houses and is slowly putting more and more trust in me. I also uncovered some interesting information." He said with a grin that had far more blood in it then they were used to seeing.

"Well?" Lucius prompted after he left them waiting.

"It turns out that after Sirius died and she went back to Hogwarts, she discovered Umbridge hadn't been found yet."

"So?"

"She went in after her and tortured her."

Voldemort looked intrigued while Lucius curled his lip. "Why would she do that?"

James shrugged carelessly. "From what I gather, she blamed the inept witch for Sirius' untimely death."

"Vicious little thing." Voldemort said with approval. James hummed in agreement. "Is that why you decided to get rid of the woman?" Voldemort asked lightly.

"I have to give my future wife a Courting gift she would not only appreciate, but one she would savour and remember." James stated, proud of his ingenuity and ignoring the dangerous edge in Voldemort's voice that indicated he had had plans for Dolores. It was too late to change anything now anyway, so he didn't bother addressing it.

"What exactly is the problem then?" Lucius asked, a note of resignation in his voice that neither man acknowledged as he changed the subject.

"Her friends."

"The blood traitor and the mudblood?"

"Hm, the mudblood and the Pureblood whose parents were cursed to insanity."

"The Longbottom Heir?" Lucius asked in surprise. "I hadn't realized he factored into the equation."

"I hadn't either. The problem is that the mudblood and the Longbottom Heir seem to have been making early courtship steps. Well, the mudblood in any case. I sincerely doubt the old hag would let her poor Heir near anything but a Pureblood match."

"How is this an issue?" Lucius asked, obviously confused.

James rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. "Use your brain to think once in a while, would you dearest? The Longbottom’s are light wizards, always have been, always will be. The boy may have been persuaded to a neutral, but his parents are as good as dead and he was brought up under what I can only assume is mildly abusive household in nature. He is firmly under his grandmother's thumb. If he accepted the mudblood’s courtship, she would, in turn, guide my Grace on a lighter path."

Lucius' eyes lightened in understanding. "You want her with a Dark wizard."

James nodded. Voldemort narrowed his eyes. "How does this benefit our cause?"

"From all accounts, this mudblood is one of the best in her year, possibly even the year above. She consumes knowledge and is no stranger to underhanded manoeuvres when it aligns with her best interests. She's the one who sent Parkinson the note about his daughter."

Both Voldemort and Lucius choked on their drinks. "That was _her_?" Lucius said outraged. "That girl almost ruined my son!"

James laughed loudly. "Not to mention what happened to Parkinson's daughter. Besides, your son got off with a slap on the wrist, no harm done."

Lucius huffed. "He's had more than that. I had to put a chastity charm on him."

James decided it was best not to tell Lucius that he had nudged Narcissa into that particular decision. He needed the boy cuckolded and a chastity spell was simply icing on the cake. His cake, to be specific. Now he was sure in the knowledge that the Malfoy boy had nothing but his words to try and show his darling that he was still an option. It was laughable. The boy had already lost yet still intended to try.

"Devious child." Voldemort said with clear approval. "You want to encourage that behaviour?"

"I want Grace to keep the loyalty of her friends. If that means guiding the mudblood to darker waters, well," he shrugged innocent-like, "what is a Lord to do?"

Lucius rolled his eyes. "That doesn't explain how this helps us."

"Don't be obtuse, Lucius." Voldemort stated. "If we can get the Potter girl closer to the Dark and get her friends to fall with her, Dumbledore will be left undefended."

Lucius sighed loudly. "I assume there are many steps missing from that plan?"

"Of course." James said, smiling in a way that made the man uncomfortable. "Would you like to start planning, dearest?"

Lucius look towards his Lord who only nodded his way. His shoulders slumped and he took a large gulp of firewhiskey. "If I must. And for the love of Lady Magic, do try to stop calling me 'dearest'."

James simply looked at him.

\---******---

Remus didn't precisely know what had caused him to start wondering. He could say it had something to do with the way Grace had seemed blindsided by his interest in her, maybe the way James hadn't had a problem with him claiming her.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong and he couldn't put his finger on the reason why. His wolf was far too content with the knowledge that they had their mate within their grasp so he knew whatever he was picking up was solely with his human senses. _But what_?

He had systematically gone through every situation and person he could think of to pinpoint the feeling of wrongness, but it hadn't helped. It was like doing a puzzle while waiting for the next piece instead of having them all spread out in front of you and not knowing what the next piece was going to be. What he did have was a suspicion.

James.

More specifically: James and Grace. James had explained it months ago, how his magic and Grace's were compatible enough to be soulmates but it hadn't meant much more to him than the understanding of an academic. It meant nothing to him, nothing to his wolf who had already decided Grace was theirs. He hadn't cared for James' human courtship since it had nothing to do with him or the way werewolves court their mates.

Until James came back to the house a little over two weeks ago smelling like blood and satisfaction. He knew of the game James was playing with Voldemort, knew that in order to keep up pretences James would have to do certain things that were morally wrong. He hadn't quite expected James to enjoy himself that much. Maybe that was the start? Or maybe the start had been when James had come back five days later and smelled of death and triumph. Why?

Maybe it hadn't been just one thing; maybe it had been all the little things combined that had made him wonder if he wasn't being played along with everyone else. He would too, if it wasn't for Grace. For some reason everything that had to do with Grace made James seem softer, more approachable, more human. James, for all his flaws, wasn't a danger to Grace, just a danger to Remus' relationship with her.

Perhaps that was the problem. James had always a possessive prick, never letting anyone have what he considered his and woebegone anyone who thought to take it away. Was Remus a problem? But if he was a problem then why on earth was James allowing him time with Grace and allowing her the possibility of falling in love with two people at once?

It just didn't make sense! Was James a problem or not? Was James a threat or not? Why was it so damnable difficult to figure out what was wrong? He knew he wasn't wrong either. He knew that there was something going on, something off. He just wondered when the other shoe would drop, if whatever was going on was going to put them all in danger.

He had a suspicion it was James, but he had nothing to back up that suspicion. Whatever he was sensing could just as easily be coming from one of the Order members. He knew for a fact that Severus was a spy. Could he be playing both sides? Was that what he was picking up? And Arthur had been keeping an annoyingly close eye on Grace lately, following her around with his eyes and pulling her aside once or twice to speak with her in private. He didn't like that, didn't like how upset Grace became after those little chats and needed some time alone. For all he knew, it could even be Albus' sudden distance and refusal to explain anything more than absolutely necessary.

Remus was frustrated beyond belief and the agony of helplessness was grinding on him far more than he had first thought. He didn't have enough of the pieces yet and he had no idea how to go about gathering more pieces since he had no idea what kind of puzzle he was putting together in the first place. What he needed was more time and a lot of luck so that he could solve the puzzle before time ran out.

If it was something at all.

\---******---

"I'd like to set up a meeting between you and Voldemort." James announced the moment he walked into the room.

Grace snorted distractedly as she looked over some reports on how her investments were doing. "Yeah, ok." She stated sarcastically.

It wasn't the first time James had brought it up and it wasn't the last time she wasn't going to take him seriously. She understood well enough that James was doing this so she could be safe, but having have a good four years worth of experiences in facing off with a half crazy psycho, Grace was of the opinion that however much James wanted this to work, it wouldn't. Not because it wasn't feasible, but because crazy didn't make deals. Voldemort not only saw her as a problem in general but he also saw her as _the_ problem. If she was out of the way (the permanent kind) he'd never have to wonder if she would incite a revolution. Having her alive would make him an even more paranoid mess than he already was.

"Preferably on a neutral territory so that I can be sure of your safety, but this meeting should probably happen before you head back to school." James continued as he closed the door to ensure their privacy.

"Yeah, the aliens might abducted me and then where would we be?" Grace muttered lowly with a frown as she tried to figure out if the losses she was reading on a particular investment was positive or negative.

It wasn't the first time this investment had run into some problems and she was quickly starting to wonder if it was worth it to keep investing. When it was going good, it was amazing, but when it fell, it fell really hard. She sighed already knowing the answer to that. Not a sound investment so she'd have to owl Nagnok and argue about it before she could order him to get her out of it.

"Grace." James interrupted, sounding a little put out.

"Hm?" She answered, still distracted as she now penned a letter to Nagnok.

"Voldemort?"

"Yes, yes, you'd like me to meet him on neutral ground so he doesn't kill me on sight like the crazy psycho he is."

James sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please don't say things like that to him, I quite like you in the state you are."

Grace looked up with a smile. "Aren't you sweet." James put his hands on his hips and looked at the ceiling. Grace flicked her eyes up there too once she realized James kept staring. "What are you doing?"

"Asking my father if he thinks he's being funny by sending you to me. I, personally, think this might be payback for being an unruly child."

"Drama queen." She snorted as she put down her quill and leaned back in her chair. "Alright, you've got my full attention. Neutral ground, keep my quips to myself, safety first. Anything else?"

"I'd like the two of you to sign a peace treaty. You won't be able to hurt him and he won't be able to hurt you. Essentially you would be out of the war and he can keep to his war mongering ways."

She frowned. "But if I can't fight him, how are we supposed to defeat him?"

"Yes." He deadpanned. "How on earth are we, grown capable wizards, supposed to stop another grown capable wizard without the help of a teenage girl? Doomed. We are all doomed."

"Ha-bloody-ha. Despite your very sarcastic commentary, the point still stands that the entire Wizarding world has pinned its hopes and dreams on me fighting a seventy-year-old man. They aren't just going to let me do nothing you know." And wasn’t that just a depressing thought if she focused on it too long. She shuddered to think what would happen to her if they ever found out she walked away from the war without helping them. She’d be murdered, she was sure of it.

"I know. Which is why this treaty will be important. I wouldn't be able to keep you from fighting but I can keep the two of you from killing each other. You are still very much able to do whatever you want to his followers, just not to the man himself."

"Can we call him a man though? Half-snake man. Half-man snake. Scales. Vampire without a nose. No, that's not right. Probably an insult to the vampires." Grace said thoughtfully as James made a pained noise.

"Please stop. I beg you."

Grace just grinned at him in delight as she leaned towards him. "What? Need something more witty?"

"If I let you get it all out now, will you not do it to his face?" James asked tiredly. Grace couldn't really hold it against him since she had this effect on people from time to time. It _delighted_ her.

"I dunno. That's a hard bargain that. I'm not exactly known for keeping my tongue in the face of his face. With all the scales. And the red eyes. Does his tongue fork now?" She asked inquisitively.

"Oh Merlin." James muttered as he sat down hard on the edge of her desk.

Grace laughed as she stood up and walked around the desk to stand in front of him. She took one of his hands in hers and lifted it up to her mouth and placed a kiss on the back of his hand.

"Relax, I know what's at stake. I'm willing to agree to a meeting but I won't sign anything until I have some kind of guarantee from him that he won't just kill everyone I love because he can't get to me."

His hand tightened in hers before he sighed again and stood up, tugging her into a hug she willingly fell into. It wasn't that she was usually cold (she really was) it was more that he was warmer than she was and he never had a problem sharing his warmth. It was also one of the reasons she enjoyed being around Remus. As a werewolf he exuded slightly more warmth than a regular person and it made him her very own personal heater. It also helped that Remus didn't mind it and frequently hauled her closer. After their kiss, she had a better idea of why exactly he liked having her that close.

"Thank you for humouring me darling." He murmured softly.

"Caught that, did you?" She said guiltily.

James grunted. "You've made it exceedingly obvious you don't trust this whole thing."

Grace snorted. "I know it's different for you, doing what you’re doing, but for me Voldemort is a psycho intent on my death. I don't think this is a good idea, but I'm more than willing to give it a go if it saves lives."

"I'm trying to save _your_ life, not magical Britain." He said dryly.

Grace smiled impishly and gave him a shrug before leaning in and giving him a peck on the lips and retreating back to her chair before he could react. "So, tell me more about your plans to 'out' yourself to the Wizarding world during the next Wizengamot meeting."

"Which is next week, by the way." James told her with a raised brow, telling her he knew exactly what she was doing by changing the subject. "Alright. The meeting doesn't start until one o'clock so I have plenty of time to head over to the Department of Registration and register my wand and re-establish myself as a living person."

"I thought the Department of Registration was for something else." Grace asked, thinking that it had something to do with creature registration.

James shrugged carelessly. "Who knows? There's not really a department of coming back from the dead, is there? I suspect this will have to do until it gets shuffled to the correct department. It's not precisely like they can deny me being alive."

Grace wanted to disagree with that because the Ministry was a mess at the moment, but she decided he'd figure it out on his own. "So you register and then go to the Wizengamot?"

"Yes. There I can take my seats and you can sit in the viewing gallery with all the Heirs who are learning the ropes."

"I'm not an Heir though." Grace pointed out.

"No, but you are not allowed in the room otherwise. They are usually closed sessions unless it involves the press or the public." James replied as he sat down in a chair across from her.

"And I'm not allowed on the Wizengamot until I'm of age." She said on a sigh, both relieved and put out by that.

"Precisely."

"Well, at least I get to see the chaos you're going to create." Grace said as she smiled widely, already imagining old men banging their canes on the floor in outrage.

James rolled his eyes even as he smirked. "Not so much chaos as a changing of the tide. Currently the population is in the grips of terror knowing that Voldemort is back. He hasn't really let his pets out to play just yet, but it won't be long. In the meantime I get to announce my return and pass a few laws here and there that will help us in the long run."

"How would that help?" She questioned, not seeing the point.

"To begin with, did you know that the Death Eaters are an organization and we, as the Wizengamot, can declare certain organizations illegal if they are a threat to the population?"

Grace looked at him sceptically. "You can do that?"

"To be honest, I could do it with the Order as well." He pointed out, probably enjoying the chaos he could bring down on all of them.

"If they can do that, why didn't they in the last war? And how exactly would that help?" Grace asked instead of indulging his fantasies.

"Last time they couldn't be arrested without proper evidence of wrongdoing. They all wore masks that had no identifying features so it was almost impossible to point fingers. Even if we knew of a confirmed Death Eater, we couldn't arrest them for being Death Eaters since we couldn't pin any crimes on them. They were usually killed or arrested when they went down in battle."

"So this time around if they have the mark you can arrest them because it proves they're part of an illegal organization." Grace said as her face cleared in understanding. "That's pretty brilliant. Why didn't anyone think of this before?"

"It's a bit complicated, but I got the idea from Umbridge. She cancelled all the clubs at Hogwarts and they had to ask to be able to meet."

Grace narrowed her eyes. How did he know that? "You want to do the same thing here." She guessed, not quite sure if she should start accusing him of anything yet.

"Not as wide-scale as she did, but that's the idea, yes." James agreed with a short nod. "Now, back to Voldemort."

Grace groaned loudly. "Noo! We were having such a nice time, why do you have to ruin it?"

"Because I value your life.” James said pointedly. “Will you meet him?"

Grace slumped into her chair, already knowing he would continue to badger her if she didn’t agree. "If you get him to agree to a cease-fire and arrange it in a place where he can't hurt me and can only bring one other person, then yes."

James sagged in relief. "Thank Merlin for that."

She snorted loudly. "Thank him after it all goes to plan."

\---******---

"Thank you for asking me to come with you." Hermione said softly as they arrived at Grace's cottage in Ireland via goblin obtained portkey.

Grace shrugged awkwardly as they looked about to orient themselves. "I didn't really want to go alone and I really _really_ didn't want to bring anybody else."

Hermione snorted inelegantly as she pointed towards the cottage that was currently behind Grace. "You mean you didn't want any male to go with you."

"Would you want to?" Grace sighed tiredly as they walked towards the house. "Ever since the yelling and the Ron thing, they've been driving me up the wall."

"I'd listen to your complaining more if I didn't know for a fact that you're loving every second of it." Hermione said as she rolled her eyes.

"So I can't complain about them?" Grace asked lightly.

"Oh you can complain, it's only natural, just don't pretend you don't like it." Hermione replied, amusement clear in her voice as they walked up the short path. "It looks good. The plants are out of control, but it looks good."

The cottage, as with all things Black related, was a two-story building and a significantly larger building than the image 'cottage' gave the place. The outside, while weather worn, was made from sturdy brick and, from the feeling of it, reinforced by magic. Probably the reason it was in such good state.

Then again, it shouldn’t have been in a good state. According to the files, it was in a state of disrepair because one of the Blacks had taken offense to the house. The fact that it was in the state it was simply meant that despite no one ever stepping foot in this place since ‘The Offense’ it had had some amazing wards and was powered by the Black family magics. She had the house-elves go through the house a few weeks ago to check out the state of the place and they had done a basic run-through and gotten rid of anything harmful and that the place was safe to explore. Once she went through the place herself she could tell them exactly what she wanted done with the place and they would make it happen. She loved house-elves.

Grace nodded. "I told the elves to get to it when they had the time, but they did tell me it was structurally sound so that's something." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Hermione twitch but kept her opinion to herself and it made Grace grin.

"Can I ask you a question?" Hermione asked as they walked into the cottage.

"Sure." Grace replied as they looked around. "As long as you don't mind checking everything out while you ask."

The house may have been in good condition but it was obvious that the rest of the house hadn’t been taken care of. The entryway was barren of anything other than wall, ceiling, and floor. Everything seemed to have been stripped down by the house-elves and what they were now looking at was the bare bones of the house.

"No, it's fine. Kind of the point of us being here." Hermione stated as she walked down the hallway to open the first door. “How do you want to do this?”

"Ask away then. I just want a list of rooms in the house for possibilities and the like." Grace replied as she pulled out a small notebook and a pen. She ignored Hermione’s impressed look and walked to the next closed door.

"Why did you go get an inheritance test? This was a living room, by the way." Hermione added as she closed the door and moved on.

"Living room, check. This was a formal dining room. Why?" Grace questioned, wondering what Hermione really wanted to know. "Well, this is going to sound completely crazy-"

"I'm sure I've heard worse." Hermione said dryly as she poked her head into the room ahead. "Library." She announced.

"-but Malfoy owled me." Grace continued blithely as she penned Hermione’s observation.

Hermione groaned in annoyance. "You know, I had a perfectly normal life until I met you. Orderly, one might say."

Grace snorted in laughter. "Like you don't enjoy every second of the chaos." She teased as she poked her head in the next room. "Informal dinning room." She muttered as she wrote it on the list.

"Fine. A little. But having your worst enemy owl you to take an inheritance test and you go do it, isn't exactly normal. Kitchen with pantry and a door to a wet room." Hermione stated.

"Conservatory. Meh. I had two choices, do it and find out what he wanted, or not do it and wonder what he wanted for the rest of time. " Grace said with a shrug. It wasn’t like it hadn’t changed her entire life. Oh wait…

"So you did it because you wanted to know what he knew?" Hermione questioned, trying to figure out the logic behind it.

"No, I did it so he wouldn't have the option of hanging anything over my head later. In the end it all worked out, even if I have no idea why Malfoy wanted me to do it yet. I think he knew that James wasn't my father and for some reason wanted me to know as well." Grace answered as she caught up with Hermione. "Another living room." She announced seeing Hermione's curious look.

"That...that's a lot of guesswork" Hermione said slowly.

"Sure, but I don't really want to ask Malfoy again. That seems to be it for down here. Upstairs?"

"Sure.” Hermione said before turning and leading the way upstairs. “Again? What do you mean again? Bedroom one."

"Oh yeah, I bumped into them a while ago in the bank. I asked him then but he was being his annoying self and then Parkinson was there and I just walked away. Bedroom two with adjacent en suite."

"Hang on." Hermione said, excitement practically bursting from her skin. "Malfoy and Parkinson are still seeing each other in public?! Bedroom 3, with sink and toilet."

Grace eyed her friend as they made their way to the last two doors. "Yes. Why?"

"They aren't allowed to do that!" Hermione uttered gleefully before opening the door in front of her. “Bathroom.”

"How would you even know that?" Grace questioned. “Another bedroom.”

"Remember that little note I sent off to Parkinson's father?" Hermione asked. “Attic or is that enough?”

"Hard to forget." Grace snorted. “No, that’s enough. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything with the attic anyway.”

"Well, I heard that they dropped the courtship and the two of them are forbidden to even be in the same room again until Hogwarts where it's unavoidable. Even then they'll be surrounded by their peers to make sure it won't happen again." Hermione stated gleefully as they made their way outside again.

"How the fuck do you even know that?" Grace asked bewildered.

Hermione shrugged casually. "I have my ways."

Grace shook her head in amazement. "You know, you're one terrifying witch."

"Thank you. Hermione replied proudly. "But that only means I get to send another note to Parkinson's father and inform him of his daughters little faux-pas."

"You just want to get her into trouble."

"She wouldn't be in trouble if she didn't do anything wrong." Hermione said gleefully.

"So why did you want to know about me getting an inheritance test?" Grace asked as they wandered down the path again.

"Oh, it was something I overheard and I wondered if anyone could take them or if you needed family in the Wizarding world." Hermione answered nonchalantly.

Grace looked back at Hermione in thought. "That's not something I've ever heard before." She said slowly. "So I wouldn't count on it being that simple. Besides the cost of the damn test if you take it at Gringotts, I don't think it's wrong to check if you have familial lines in the Wizarding world." Grace thought about that for a moment before making a mental note that she would have to address this with her attorneys as well.

If a muggleborn did have a House or belonged to a line already then handing them a House would be a moot point. So maybe it would be a requirement that they get an inheritance test to prove they really needed the House? Was that even legal? Making someone get an inheritance test? Would she need to pay for it? Definitely something she would owl her attorneys about.

"Good to know." Hermione intoned with a thoughtful look.

"If you're really interested there's a fair bit of information in some of my books." Grace offered as she rummaged through her bag for their portkey.

"Books? What books? You read?" Hermione stated in mock shock.

"Oh, ha-ha, you're hilarious! The books I needed to catch up on my Lordship things. I'm sure I read a few things about inheritance tests in there, but I'd have to check."

"Thank you, that would be appreciated. Still can't believe you listened to Malfoy of all people."

Grace shook her head in amusement. "Trust me, neither can I. And since I can't figure out what he wants from me, I guess we'll just wait and see if he even mentions it."

"So. What are you going to do with the place?" Hermione asked when Grace finally pulled out the portkey.

"For now, the only two people on earth that know this place exists are you and me. I want to make this a safe house. Well." She amended. "I wanted this as 'I don't want to be bothered' house, but with the war and what-not, I figure it's probably a good idea to have more than one place we can hideout that no one else knows about.”

Hermione lost a bit of her colour at that and had to take several deep breaths. "You know, sometimes, even for just a moment, I forget I'm on the front lines and then it hits me all at once and I find myself wondering how I even manage to breathe through all that panic."

Grace turned to her friend in sympathy. "I don't know how you managed to stand by me in all this. You know I'd think nothing less of you if you decide you've had enough you know."

Hermione glared at her. "I told you, we're in this together. Just because I'm with you doesn't mean I'm not allowed to get scared."

Grace barked out a laugh. "Fair enough. Let's just come out of this in one piece, yeah?"

"Yeah." Hermione said with a small smile. “That’s the idea.”

"On that note, James is trying to get me a meeting with Voldemort for some kind of peace talk." Grace said lightly even as she walked quickly out of Hermione's range. She smiled cheekily at her friend's shocked expression before laughing and racing down the rest of the path.

"Wha-GRACE! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN MURDER YOU! _GRACE_!!"

\---******---

She craved him. It was a truth beating on her skin every time he touched her.

She needed him. It was a truth burning in her heart every time he stole her away from the people who had denied her, ignored her, dismissed her.

She wanted him. It was a truth she could bear in the dark of night when the light of day didn't despise her for it, when something burned in her that she couldn't satisfy without guilt.

She longed for him. It was a truth she denied with every beat of her blood.

She was stronger than that. He wanted to possess her; wanted her in ways she had only wanted Sirius. Did she allow him that? Did she allow him all those hollow places now that Sirius had been ripped from her soul? Could she?

Sirius had been false. Sirius hadn't been strong enough, good enough, brave enough. Would he be?

Her needs were growing. Her cravings were building. Her wants left unfulfilled. Submission writhed under her skin.

She had to hold on. Had to deny. Had to be stronger.

He wanted her encased in darkness, dripped in needs that only he could satisfy and she desired it. She wanted what he was offering with such intensity it scared her and still she desired.

She wasn't ready.

But she craved.

Why wasn't he proving himself?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, really nervous about this one since it went full dark!  
Hope everyone is still hanging in there and washing hands to Toto. I dig it. Fun side story: my brother likes listening to music but can't ever remember lyrics so we all told him now would be the perfect time to learn some >.<
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	8. Mr. Postman Look At Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fudged a little with the timeline because O.W.L.S (Disclaimer: O.W.L. results taken from J.K Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and therefore not mine in any way)  
No beta, mistakes might want a high-five. Do not indulge them.

Since they only had a week left of holiday and they were getting exceptionally closer to the day they would be getting their supply list, it didn't surprise Grace to see Hermione awake far earlier than she would normally be up, looking well put together even if she glared at everyone in the room. The girl was a nightmare before her first cup of tea and it amused Grace to no end to see the entire Gryffindor house angle away from her in the mornings. House of the brave indeed.

By the time they were both nursing their second cups and watching Hermione be awake enough to wish her a good morning, the rest of the house had started to wake up around them, if the sounds of hands banging on closed doors and muted screaming was any kind of indication at least. Mrs. Weasley was almost done with breakfast and Mr. Weasley had ambled in with several copies of the paper. He gave Hermione her copy and placed two copies on the table before sitting down and opening his own.

It was only when Hermione choked on her tea and started coughing that she realized the papers had printed something potential harmful. To her, since she somehow got in the middle of everything. Not that that was in anyway her fault, things just seemed to happen to her. It was also the reason she flat out refused to get a subscription to the paper since it would either let them know she followed their craziness or that she silently approved of their attacks on her person. Neither was an option she was pleased with so she was mostly satisfied with her decision, until something like this happened and she was the last to know. She tried not to care, but curiosity was a dangerous beast and it took her a grand total of five seconds before pulling one of the spare papers towards her.

Her eyes grew wide and shock had her mouth dropping open. In large print, front page above the fold, was something she thought she'd never see.

_Justice._

‘Umbridge murdered in her own home!’ The headlines screamed while a picture of the scene showed blood splattered walls and aurors throwing out spells in a loop. The breath was stolen from her lungs and she tried her best not to show the vicious pleasure that was searing her veins. She hoped it _hurt_. She hoped it lasted a long time. She hoped the bitch suffered.

Two arms came down on either side of her and her back was warmed by a steady presence. A head came down over hers and then dipped until lips brushed her left ear.

"Do you like it darling?" James asked so softly it was only a breath. She shivered and couldn't figure out if it was because of his breath on her ear or the effect the words had on her soul.

"What?" Grace uttered confused, her brain warring with his words and the need to know more about Umbridge’s fate.

Her need won out and she practically drank in the rest of the article. No leads, no traces, no clues. There was blood, there had been torture and curses and a viciousness that had the even the reporters shivering in fear. The aurors were at a dead end, the only reason the story was in the papers despite the murder itself happening weeks ago, and implored the public to come forward with any kind of information. She hadn't even been discovered missing until someone had needed something signed and couldn't find her anywhere. They had no idea when anyone had seen her last because people tended to stay as far away from her as possible.

Grace was so absorbed in the article that she hardly noticed when James had urged her up and lead her out of the room and into another before closing and magically locking the door. She heard quiet murmurs of concern and how pale she had gotten from a worried Mrs. Weasley and a nonsensical reply coming from James, but all of that played out in the background of her thoughts.

_Umbridge was dead_. She would never be in a position of power over someone else; she would never force children to conduct their own torture, Grace would never have to hear that woman spew her vitriol ever again. Umbridge would _never_ haunt her again.

Grace snapped back to the here and now when James pushed her gently but forcefully against the wall, crowding in close and pressing as much of his body against hers, grounding her with his weight. His hands were hot on her hips, burning her through her clothing and anchoring her in the moment as his head dipped towards her ear.

"Do you like it?" He whispered, lips ghosting over her skin.

"For me?" She mumbled, a little shocked, a little scared, more than a little satisfied as she finally understood what exactly he had done for her and what he had given her.

"Always for you." James told her, kissing her on the side of her head. "You deserve only the best."

She angled her head towards him, not quite meeting his eyes but keeping him in her periphery.

"Did she suffer?" She murmured quietly, not willing to say it any louder than a breath of air. There was something dark growing in her at that moment, something she revelled in, something pleased and satisfied by the offering of the man who intended to keep her.

"For days, darling." James told her, his voice mirroring the darkness she was feeling, turning it into a wanton desire she was almost frightened of but craved more than she feared it.

She hummed in delight. "Good."

Whatever else she was feeling, Umbridge had been her personal hell for close to a year and not even Voldemort held a candle to the hatred she held in her heart for that cow. What kind of adult knowingly tortured eleven year old children? What kind of adult delighted in that torture? It was a cold type of evil that she had never witnessed in Voldemort, never witnessed in the fights she'd had with the Death Eaters. Despite the fight at the Ministry, none of them had been aiming to kill, just incapacitate. Grace thought that Dolohov had let his anger get the better of him when he'd crossed paths with Hermione, but it wasn't something she could ever prove.

Umbridge, however, had been the type of person who had revelled in the power and the pain and the blood. It had only made her hungrier, had made her want more, had made her unhinged. Once the smoke cleared, Grace had never been able to justify wanting the woman dead, not even after everything that had happened. As a present, however. Well. Who could say no to that?

"I want details." She told James as he slid a hand in her hair and leaned back a little to smile at her in such a knowing way she almost confessed every dark secret she had ever held in her heart.

"Anything for you." He said lightly, searching her face even as if he was waiting for something.

His hands on her were proprietary, possessive, claiming in a way that heated her blood and made her arch into his embrace. A leg slid between hers, rising slowly until it came to a rest snug against her core. She sucked in a heated breath, titled her head just a little more and surveyed him from underneath heavy lidded eyes even as her hands found his sides and fisted his shirt as she tugged him closer.

"I made sure she regretted every line she forced on you." He murmured as he took advantage of her tilted head, his words whispered into the skin of her throat, his breath heating her blood and his barely-there kisses making her shiver in delight.

"It was so easy." He stated as he slid both of his hands down the length of her body until the stopped at the top of her jeans. He played with the hem of her t-shirt before sliding under the material and curving upwards.

His hands were hot, a branding she hadn't envisioned, and she jerked at the firm touch, sliding her core along his leg and gasping when the seam of her zipper hit her just right. Her gasp was almost all air, but enough sound that it caught his attention and he leaned back to look at her.

"She bled so easily." He confessed, his eyes roaming greedily over her features.

She licked her lips even as her breaths came just a little faster. He slid his leg up higher, his hands dropped back down to her hips and tugged her even closer, her core sliding roughly over his leg and the position of her zipper causing her to keen in need, a feeling of pleasure she'd never felt before simmering to the surface. James' eyes darkened as he watched her, pushed her hips back down his leg only to roughly drag her back towards him.

"Pleaded with me so nicely." He stated with a rough voice before kissing her forcefully, all teeth and tongue and pure need without a thought of how sloppy or messy the kiss was becoming.

Her arm wound around his neck as the other grabbed his hair and tugged him in closer, forcing them even closer despite having no space between them. She was lost in sensation, hardly noticing how the friction made her moan into his mouth until his hands forced her hips to stop their frantic grinding. He broke their kiss with a moan, resting his head against hers as she tried to remember how to breathe properly.

"Easy darling." He panted roughly, his eyes closed as the hands on her hips tightened. "We should slow down before we do something we regret."

His hands glided firmly up her body again and came to rest just under her breasts, his thumbs sliding over the underside of her bra and making her jerk at his touch.

Grace leaned her head back, hitting the wall behind her with a thunk even as she desperately shook her head. "You said we had to slow down. You can't do that if you want to slow down."

"Too much?"

"Not enough." She groaned, knowing what more felt like now and hating herself for knowing she wasn't ready for that step yet.

"Alright." He said as he slid his hands down again until he let go of her completely before putting his hands back on her waist, her t-shirt a barrier between them.

He leaned in and slowly kissed her, soft unhurried kisses that were gentle and encompassing, so different to their earlier kiss that she didn't feel the intense need she had just moments before.

"Say yes Grace." James mumbled before deepening the next kiss, delving his tongue into her mouth and dragging a moan from her throat at the taste of him.

"Wha?" She asked confused when he moved back and gave her room to breathe.

"Accept my Courtship Grace." He repeated, dark eyes watching her possessively, his weight somehow more pronounced the longer the kisses went on.

"I don't?" She didn't know where he started and she ended anymore. So many thoughts, too many sensations. She had never felt like this, so possessed, so wanted, so needy.

"I, Lord James Potter, do hereby formally declare an exclusive Courtship with Lord Grace Lily Black-Gryffindor for the duration of a year." James said clearly.

"I accept your Courtship." Grace said breathlessly, finally understanding what he was getting at. The small tingle of magic that came from her statement wasn't enough to seal the magic invoked by the declaration though, and they both knew it.

"Properly. According to custom." James demanded. He kissed her hard and fast, needy, deep, fiercely, before backing away from her slightly. He put his hands on the wall next to her head and removed his body from hers. He panted as he watched her lick her lips and try to return her breathing to something resembling normal.

"I, Lord Grace Lily Black-Gryffindor, do hereby declare my acceptance of Lord James Potter's exclusive Courtship for the duration of a year." She whispered, her green eyes focused solely on him.

The magic that brushed over both of them made the declaration settle in their bones and James made a strangled sound as he hung his head.

"James?" She asked as she reached out to touch.

"Don't." He begged her. "We're Courting now and without a chaperone we can't be alone anymore. If you touch me, I won't be able to hold myself back from doing what I want."

Her breath caught in her throat at the sheer want in his voice. "What do you want?"

"I want to devour you." He said huskily as he raised his head to look at her. His eyes pierced her and she sucked in a breath, found it hard to move and wondered how he was keeping himself in check with so much desire written across his face.

She swallowed and nodded slowly. "Are we setting down specifications for our Courtship now? Because we should really do that." She asked, changing the subject to something safer so that they could both cool down a little. "Should have already done that, actually."

"I would never compromise you in such a way." James said quickly, a slight panic in his eyes at the possibility of her not knowing that, of her assuming he would compromise her in such an underhanded way.

"I know." She nodded, firmly believing it. "I know that, but if we don't I will suffer some kind of repercussion and you know it."

He took a deep breath and took another step away from her but kept his arms by her head, still caging her in. "Alright." He nodded. "Alright. Formal contracts. We should sit down." He stated firmly, taking a step to the side and gesturing her towards one of the many chairs without managing to touch her.

She nodded and gratefully sat down, wondering why the hell her legs had decided now was the right time to stop working properly. "Specifications." She said with a nod as James sat down across from her, placing the small table between them.

James conjured up some parchment and a quill. "Well, maybe more of a guideline now. Physical affection?"

"Yes. I mean, it's a little useless now anyway." He snorted, eyes dancing with mirth but dutifully wrote it down anyway. "I'm not ready for anything more though, so I'd like to keep it at only kissing and, um, touching but nothing further than that." She said softly, hands clenching together even though she knew she had nothing to fear.

"That's what we're here to discuss." He said gently. "So no intimate touching. Chaperone?"

"If we're going to do this right, we'll have to. Would you like to appoint a designated one?"

James hummed in thought. "Usually it's someone from your family, but in this case I would think one of the Weasley's might jump in. It's unusual, but perhaps even your friend would work as well."

"Hermione you mean?"

"Yes. It might be unconventional with her being your age and that she's clearly unattached, but she's close to you and seems to know the rules well enough that there would be no undue speculation."

Grace smiled a little and nodded. "That's true, and she knows about us so we wouldn't have to explain anything. Which one of the Weasley's would we be asking?"

"I've taken the time to explain things to Arthur, so he would most likely be honoured." Grace cringed. "A problem?" James asked, easily picking up on her hesitance.

"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with Mr. Weasley. He keeps pushing me to tell Snape about his parental status and it's started to make me very uneasy. I think I would become more focused on what he would eventually say to me than what we were doing."

James narrowed his eyes, a glint of something flashing in his eyes before he looked down at the parchment. "Not a problem, we'll simply find someone else. We should also discuss how Remus stands in all of this."

"Because he wants to Court me too?"

"That, and you just magically swore to be faithful to only me."

Grace felt her eyes widen in surprise, guilt setting in quickly that she hadn’t even considered Remus at all before now. "Shit. I did do that."

"I could explain things to him?" James offered. "He'd still be allowed around you but he'd have to wait with his Courtship until ours is over or suffer the magical consequences."

She couldn't explain the sudden relief that flowed through her veins at that so she decided to ignore it. "No, it's ok, I'll explain it. He, uh, he seemed to have some issues Courting me anyway, so this might be for the best."

"You don't mind?” He asked surprised. “I know how attached you are to him."

"I love him. I'm just not sure that his love and my love are the same kind of love." She confessed softly, not even sure what she was saying but voicing something that had been playing on her mind for a while now.

It wasn't that she didn't love Remus, because she very much did, it was everything else that surrounded them. Remus' hesitation at their changing relationship combined with the knowledge that Remus had willingly abandoned her with the Dursley’s. Grace often found herself wondering if Moony had been at the forefront more if she wouldn't have forgiven him for these things, if he had even let her go at all when he realized his pack had been decimated.

"Ah. Yes, perhaps you'd do better in explaining things to him then. Next subject: dates. I would like one date a week that must include a serious discussion of the future: work, beliefs, morals, values, children, living arrangements, dress, conduct etc."

"Well, that's not a lot at all." Grace snorted, grateful for James’ distraction.

James smiled indulgently. "Courting is leading up to marriage, darling. We know we have physical chemistry, now we find out if we match anywhere else."

"Plus you also have to adhere to the Courting rules for both Black and Gryffindor Houses." Grace pointed out as an afterthought.

"Right. Showing my worth within two months and being well versed in dark magic in order to protect you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Are you supposed to know that?"

"I'm Courting you, of course I should know that." James replied as he wrote something down.

"Ahha, and that explains why you knew that before we were officially Courting." Grace said leadingly, raising her eyebrows in suspicion.

He looked up from his parchment. "I could be wrong, but I believe I'm hearing a slight censure in your tone." He said mildly.

"You'll be hearing a lot more if I find out you snooped in my House business." Grace said with a pointed look.

"If it helps at all, I did nothing of the sort. I just researched past Courtships and took my cues from there."

"I'm not sure I believe you, but I'm also not sure I don't."

"Troublesome, I'm sure." James said lightly, a smile playing on his lips.

"Prat."

"A prat you're serious about."

"I pity my future self already." Grace sighed dramatically.

"We should leave our discussion here for now." James declared as he shot her an amused look. "We've covered the most important points for both of us and we can use the respite to think of anything we may have forgotten. After that we can send it to the Ministry and Gringotts." He rolled up the parchment and stood up, making his way over to her and holding out a hand for her to take as she stood up.

James cupped Grace's face, slowly caressing her neck as his thumb traced her jaw line. This kiss was soft, almost hesitant and so different from their earlier frantic movements that she couldn't help but lean into him. His lips brushed hers before using his tongue to ask permission, kissing her deeply when she parted her lips. It was sweet, it was intense, and she knew he had no intention of taking it further yet had more passion in it than she thought possible. She let herself get lost in the moment, loved the way he spanned his hand on her lower back, loved the way she felt in his arms, but most of all she loved how she could call this man hers.

\---******---

"You have news for me?" Voldemort asked the moment James stepped into his office.

"We're Courting." James stated, a swell of victory and pride leaking into his tone despite trying his best to tamper them down.

"Congratulations." Voldemort intoned dryly, clearly not happy with the news at all. Frankly, James wondered if the man had any care for anything outside of his direct needs.

"She's also agreed to truce negotiations." He said instead, growing swiftly tired of this game and wanting to go back to Grace despite having seen her less than an hour ago.

"Has she now? How fortunate." The Dark Lord intoned, a sliver of something that had James' hackles rising.

If the other man showed any less interest, his plan wouldn't work at all. If there was one sure fire way to keep a man like Voldemort interested, it was to dangle Albus in his face. It was a testament to how short his temper had become when dealing with the so-called Lord that James was starting to weigh his options on whether or not to kill Voldemort.

"It should happen soon.” He replied in a bored tone, knowing that if he pushed Voldemort would probably bow out of the whole thing altogether. “There's only a week left before her return to Hogwarts and you know how Albus likes to keep a close eye on her."

Voldemort stroked his wand as his eyes suddenly gleamed. "Indeed. Two days? Would that be acceptable?"

"I can make it work." James replied, almost fed up with how easy it was to get what he wanted, even from a man like Voldemort. "She had two demands, if you will."

"Impertinent child." Voldemort spit out in hatred. James tried not to sigh, but it was hard not to grow weary of the sudden bursts of hostility and he didn't have the patience to deal with it today.

"The first being that both you and her could only bring one other with you. A sign of trust." He emphasized, condensing his wishes for Grace's safety so he could tackle the madman on a day he wasn't as volatile as today and one where James could better tolerate his mood swings.

"And the other?"

"A peace negotiation ward."

"Quite the daring bride you have chosen. Acceptable. Make sure she abides by her own rules." Voldemort stated silkily as he glided out of the room without waiting for an answer.

Frankly, the Dark Lord was lucky James had need for him for the moment.

Once the war was over, one way or another, he would make sure all threats to Grace were eliminated permanently. The fact that Voldemort hadn't died during his own attack made James wonder if he had done a ritual to tether his soul to the world, not unlike James had done himself. He might be temporarily allied with Voldemort but it wouldn't do to be unprepared when the time came. Perhaps with Grace leaving for Hogwarts now was the time to dig a little deeper to secure his position in this new world he was creating.

\---******---

"James, a moment if you can spare it." A voice stated as he walked into the room.

"Albus! What can I do for you today? It's been a while since we had a chance to catch up." James replied jovially as he put down the book he was reading and turned his full attention towards his former Headmaster. He tried his best to not grind his teeth in irritation, a habit left from childhood that he simply couldn't shake. After his little talk earlier with Voldemort, he had no desire to go head to head with Albus right now.

"Busy times, I'm afraid." Albus replied, regret evident in his voice even if James wondered how true it was.

"Naturally, naturally. I couldn't hold it against you, not with times being what they are." James said, gesturing to a chair across from him. Albus nodded his thanks and made himself comfortable before turning his sharp eyes to James.

"Which leads me to something I had wanted to talk to you about."

"Oh? How can I be of service?"

"I'm afraid I need to inquire about your comings and goings." Albus stated heavily, a sharp look in his eyes that belayed his age.

Now this was a bit of a problem. Of course he had known he was being watched, a man like Albus only got as far as he had in life by being suspicious, and naturally he had assumed Albus would continue to be suspicious of him, but what he hadn't counted on was being directly confronted. That either meant that Albus had found something or that he was trying a different angle with James. The trouble with this was that if he professed innocence and Albus did have something, Azkaban would be in his very near future. If he didn't, then this was simply another ploy but he would have to watch his step after this.

"Have I done something I shouldn't have?" James asked, sitting back into his chair, a puzzled look on his face. When in doubt, answer the question with another question.

"I need to be assured of Grace's safety. I have allowed her to go to Gringotts far more often than I am comfortable with and she seems to find no problem in putting herself into willful danger." Albus said as he continued to observe James, not giving anything away.

Not anything obvious at least. He wasn't so much suspicious of James, more suspicious of what James was doing in relation to Grace. Of course it came down to Grace.

"Are you suggesting that I am pushing her to become careless with her own safety?"

"I cannot help but wonder what your true motivations are."

"We've been over this Albus, several times already if you will recall." James stated with a frown.

It wasn't even that he was concerned with how much Albus was picking up without James' knowledge, it was the fact that Albus still had the power to keep Grace away from him that worried him. If James gave even the slightest hint of wrong doing, he was sure it would be years until he came face to face with his darling again. Never mind how much sway the old man had over Grace herself, something that still smarted.

"And yet I leave each conversation with more questions than answers."

"If that is the way you feel, why in Merlin's name are you letting Grace near me at all?"

"Because you are her father and she has the ability to become quite obstinate when told 'no'."

"And yet you still have reservations." James pointed out, a tinge of relief echoing in his body that Albus hadn’t yet found out that he wasn’t Grace’s father at all.

"We are in the midst of a war. I believe it comes with the territory."

"Albus." James said heavily. "I have no idea how to soothe your worries since I cannot hope to understand what I've been doing wrong to lead you to think so badly of me. All I can say is that I would never put Grace in harms way. Otherwise I can only hope that my actions continue to speak for me and that one day I can regain the trust I've seemingly lost."

Albus looked at him with a heavy gaze. "It's a wish we both share, but for now I will take your assurances of Grace's safety."

"Grace will always be safe with me." James stated evenly, daring Albus to contradict him. Albus gave him a long, heavy look before finally inclining his head. He sighed deeply, the weight of the Wizarding world on his shoulders before standing up.

"It needed to be addressed." He said, no apology in his tone.

James nodded, hiding his annoyance and his relief. "I understand. I'll be here if you need me Albus."

The Headmaster didn't reply but simply twinkled his eyes at James before walking out of the room. James frowned in thought, pulling his discarded book towards him even as he continued to ponder Albus' sudden shift in behavior. Had he found something? Perhaps it was time to dispatch his own spy to make sure his plans were still safe. A little caution was always advised, especially in times of war.

\---******---

"Mione, can I ask you something?" Grace asked, interrupting what she assumed was another foray into magical knowledge since she had ample time to read most of what the Black's had in the townhouse.

Which made her wonder what kind of books they would have in their Manor but that was a thought for another day. Today she needed Hermione because she couldn't ignore or avoid the truth anymore. She had enjoyed Umbridge's murder far too much and her reaction to the news after the fact had unsettled her. Was this why she was Voldemort's equal? Was this how he had started as well? Was this how he had gone on a homicidal spree?

"As long as it's not something that will make me want to live on an island, sure." Hermione stated, interrupting Grace's doom and gloom thoughts.

She snorted even as she tried not to wring her hands together. "Right. So anyway, why doesn't it bother you that Remus and James are..."

"Grooming you?" She asked sardonically, lifting one of her eyebrows.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Yes. That."

Hermione sighed deeply and sat back in her chair, frowning slightly as she thought about it. "Well I'm not quite sure, to be honest. It may have something to do with the fact that I trusted Professor Lupin, despite the whole werewolf thing, and that he proved himself to be trustworthy. Lord Potter, on the other hand, is..." Hermione hesitated.

"An arse?" Grace inserted helpfully. Hermione rolled her eyes but smiled.

"I wouldn't go quite that far, but yes. Sure, the whole background is a little iffy if you think too hard about it. I mean, this bloke decided that you were it when you were a baby, then decides to make sure he'll always have a way of getting to you even if that means bending space and time to suit his needs. It's beyond creepy. You were a baby! Not that you being sixteen is any better, mind you, or the fact that you grew up thinking he was your father and is now Courting you. On top of that, he's telling you to trust the man who's been trying to kill you for the better part of the last five years!"

"You know, I don't think you quite understood what I was asking you. You seem to have lost track of which side you were on pretty quick there." Grace said, looking at her as if she had just told her she loved Ron. Crazy. Grace was looking at her like she was crazy. Which she was. "Are you trying to talk yourself out of being not bothered?"

"What? Don't be ridiculous!" Hermione scoffed. "All of that works in your favor."

"What now? Did I...Did I walk into the wrong room?" Grace asked, looking around her. "Are you from a different dimension?" She gasped in shock. "Are you the evil version of my Hermione but instead of everything organized in pure logic you like disorganized logic and chaos?!"

Hermione rolled her eyes and smacked her on the arm. "Don't be a prat, you prat! Lord Potter did things with magic that are technically not supposed to be possible. _For you_. He did things no person has ever done because he's completely and totally obsessed with you. He out-smarted two of the smartest people of the last century just to get to you."

"Yes, yes, because he's obsessed with me, I'm pretty sure we covered the creepy part of all this."

"I'm saying," Hermione began with a threatening look "I know all of this isn't great. But he did things he wasn't supposed to do because he needed to keep you safe. He changed history to keep you safe. Add a werewolf and, well, anyone who wants to get to you has to get through them."

Grace stared at her for a long moment. "Are you actually having a laugh?"

"What?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"You don't mind them Courting me because they keep me safe?! That's what you're saying?"

"Oh. Right. Well, when you say it like that it does sound bad, doesn't it." Hermione had the grace to at least look sheepish.

"I don't believe you right now! All that talk about how super creepy my not-father is-"

"We really ought to find a better way to say that." Hermione mumbled.

"-and how he's roped Remus into his crazy only for you to turn around and say it's all ok as long as they keep me safe?!" Grace continued in a rant. "What if they turn me dark?"

"Not really a problem. You're not a dark witch and I've seen you fight. You don't go for anything particularly dark and you still try to minimize casualties. Magic works on intentions."

"And if I start killing people because James takes me to the Dark Lord and he demands a show of loyalty?" Grace demanded angrily.

"Parkinson is a prime target. Kill her. I'm sure I wouldn't mind." Hermione shrugged carelessly.

"Mione!" Grace yelled, indignant.

"What! She's a bitch!" Hermione yelled back.

"That's not the point! You're letting them 'groom' me!" Grace yelled back, making air quotes.

"I'm not letting them do anything! You are!"

"I am not!"

"You know it's grooming, I know it's grooming, they know it's grooming, and yet we all let them do it! Why is this a thing for you?" Hermione demanded, her voice raised in exasperation.

"Stop yelling at me!" Grace demanded, yelling at her.

"You stop yelling at me!" Hermione yelled back, thoroughly fed up.

"I'm not yelling at you!" Grace yelled back defensively.

"What on earth is going on here?" Mrs. Weasley roared, walking into the room.

"She's yelling at me!" Hermione and Grace yelled, facing Mrs. Weasley and point their fingers at each other.

Mrs. Weasley Looked from one face to the other. "And what are you yelling about?" She asked after a short silence.

Hermione huffed. "She's using me to figure out her feelings and she didn't like the fact that I was on her side."

"I-that's-unbelievable-I would never!" Grace spluttered out.

Mrs. Weasley sighed deeply. "I already have seven children, I'm sure you two can work this out on your own. _Without_ yelling at each other." She told them, with narrowed eyes and a warning in her voice. Both girls nodded quickly. "I'm sure there's cleaning to be done somewhere. Go do that while you figure out what you need to figure out, please." She added as she walked out of the library.

"I keep forgetting how terrifying her mum voice is." Grace commented as they listened to her walking away.

Hermione hummed in agreement. "So you have a problem with me not having a problem with your suitors Courting you because you have a problem with them Courting you because...?" Hermione prompted.

Grace groaned loudly and fell back into the couch. "I don't know." She wailed. "If I knew that I wouldn't have asked you to figure it out for me, would I?"

"Prime logic." Hermione said flatly.

"Kill Parkinson?" Grace parried back just as flatly.

Hermione blushed and looked away. "We all have our own Voldemort’s." She said primly. Grace snorted. "So tell me why." Hermione prompted when Grace fell into a sullen silence.

"I have a problem with the fact that I don't have a problem with it." Grace said tiredly.

"You want someone to look out for you." Hermione said softly. "And when I said it was ok..."

Grace huffed. "How is what they're doing ok? You're the smartest person I know that will actually look out for my best interests and you don't seem to have a problem with it."

"Yes, but I'm a sounding board. You want an adult. You want a parent looking out for your best interests." Hermione told her, falling back onto the couch next to Grace. "And we both know that if you really didn't want either of them, they wouldn't be living in this house."

"The thought of Snape doing that, being angry for me, is laughable." Grace said, staring up at the ceiling.

"But you still want him to." Hermione acknowledge softly. "So it's not really James and Remus you have a problem with, or their actions, it’s the fact that you don't have a parent who'll look out for you."

She nodded. "I still want him to. Which is ridiculous because I haven't needed an adult since I was six and figured out that they didn't do anything. And Snape! My father! He hates me and I still want him to protect me because I don't know if I can protect myself from this."

Hermione frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I wasn't lying when I said they'll bring me to Voldemort."

"Because you've agreed to meet with Voldemort? You think you're going dark." Hermione said as her eyes widened in understanding. "And I told you, magic doesn't work like that."

"But people do." Grace replied softly, not brave enough to look her best friend in the eye.

"Meaning what?" She said sharply, eyeing Grace with trepidation.

"I mean, if they get me far enough, at what point do I stop? Will I stop because I don't want to anymore or do I stop because they asked me to? What if what they're doing is so effective that I'm not me anymore?" Grace said in a breathless rush.

Hermione looked pained. "You think they'll make you into a killer and you lose what makes you 'you'."

Grace nodded. "I _liked_ what happened to Umbridge, Hermione. I wanted her to suffer and I wanted her dead." She opened her mouth before she closed it again and shook her head. "What do I do?"

Hermione let out a strangled breath. "I don't know. If it helps, I doubt there's a person on this earth who didn't hate that woman after they met her."

"That's not particularly helpful." Grace pointed out glumly.

"It's not like it'll make that much of a difference anyway, sooner or later you're going to blurt out the truth. About your father that is, not you thinking about possibly going dark."

"I what now?" Grace asked, perplexed at both the slight change in topic and Hermione's certainty.

"You can't hold a secret to save your life."

"I'm holding a pretty big secret right now." Grace replied darkly, thinking of the Dursley's.

"That's hardly a secret. It took you a mere three weeks before you barged into my room and told me they were courting you. Or seducing you." Hermione said with a careless shrug.

"Courting. There's protocol and everything." Grace said, ignoring the fact that that wasn't what she had meant.

"They stick to the protocol?" Hermione asked, a little shocked.

"Technically, yes." Grace answered with a shrug. "Remus is a wolf so it's a bit different and James and I just signed the Courtship papers."

"Have you-"

"Read everything I need to so I don't get stuck into a situation that could end badly for me? Yes, thank you, I'm not an idiot." Grace interrupted with a huff, not feeling the need to tell her best friend exactly how far she had gotten in her education of the Wizarding customs and rituals.

Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes. "It needed to be asked. You generally run at things at full speed and think about the consequences later."

"I resent that comment and you should definitely be ashamed of yourself for thinking so lowly of me." Grace said primly.

"My point," Hermione stated loudly, "is that one of these days Professor Snape is going to do something that really ticks you off and you'll explode at him and wham! The secret dad is out of the bag!"

"Please don't make that a saying." Grace begged horrified. "That sounds terrible."

"Secret father?"

"I'm begging you."

"Fine, but I still have the right to come back to it and make it better."

"If the Gods like me even a little you'll forget this ever happened."

"Unlikely." Hermione told her tapping her head. "Steal trap. Beside the point, though."

"There was a point?"

"Yes. The point was that at some point you're going to get angry at him and tell him that he's your father and you hate him because he hates you."

"Right, right. Wham! I remember." Grace said, nodding along. "How does this help me?"

"Well, knowing Professor Snape-"

"You two are such close friends, honestly the best friendship in the history of friendships."

"-He'll yell at you, say some things that are super hurtful that will make you hate him more." Hermione continued on, glaring at Grace.

"This reunion is not going well." Grace remarked.

"But then!"

"There's always a but." Grace sighed.

"He'll spend some time really thinking about it, going over any evidence he has left of when he was with Lily, maybe even check his memories, and then he'll come up to you and say 'I'm terribly sorry for my attitude, my precious daughter. I have missed you terribly, please love me as I love you.'" Hermione acted out in a deep voice.

"Uhhh...I'm pretty sure you're terribly concussed if that's what you think will happen." Grace said, biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing.

"What? That seemed accurate to me." Hermione said with a frown.

"First of all, you've underestimated his hatred for me and second of all, that's so not what he sounds like."

Hermione huffed. "Like you could do better."

"Why would I want to?” Grace asked perplexed. “The man is the embodiment of holding on to grudges and pettiness to last an eternity. If he died he would spend the rest of his un-natural afterlife haunting and taunting me just because he holds a grudge against 'James Potter - The Hogwarts years'." She said in a fake presenter voice, making her hands follow an invisible banner.

"I think you're exaggerating." Hermione stated flatly.

"I think you like happy endings and you're trying them out on the only person who has the most potential for a great many strange things happening to her that might to lead to you seeing a real life happy ending." Hermione huffed and crossed her arms but didn't reply. Grace smirked at her. "We're not actually going to clean though, are we?" Grace asked after some time had elapsed.

"Merlin no." Hermione said horrified. "We did enough of that last year, I'm not touching anything in this place. I have standards."

"Righto, might want to move rooms then, just in case Mrs. Weasley comes to look for us." Grace said standing up.

"Excellent idea." Hermione replied, grabbing a couple of books before following Grace out of the room. "Hey, do you think there's a potions room in this place?"

"Why do you ask?" Grace asked, look over her shoulder and wondering what her friend was up to now. She still remembered the whole polyjuice potion incident after all.

"Just wanted to try a few things." Hermione said with a casual shrug. Grace raised her eyebrows and snorted in disbelief but called Kreacher anyway. Maybe this could be a nice distraction that would give her the time and space to really figure out what she really wanted to do.

\---******---

Sitting down for breakfast, thankfully without a full house since it was a weekday, the Weasley's, Remus, James, Hermione, and Grace were all surprised when a flurry of owls dropped onto the table and held their respective letters out to their recipients.

"Oh Merlin!" Hermione wailed out in distress after three extra owls flew in through the open window. "I _forgot_ about our O.W.L. results!"

"I'm going to be sick." Ron moaned as he took both of his letters from the waiting owls in front of him.

"Like ripping off a plaster." Grace said with a firm nod, ignoring the way her hands trembled as she took her own two letters.

"Together?" Hermione asked.

"Together." Ron nodded. "On three. One. Two. Three!"

"Deep breath darling." James encouraged, laying a hand on her back and giving her a confident smile when she looks at him.

But honestly, what did he know? She could have failed everything! She's definitely gone and fucked up in History of Magic, and she'd be more than a little surprised if she passed Divination. She's not that fond of Astronomy so that could have gone terribly. She's more than sure she's failed Potions because Snape is her teacher and she's horrible at remembering anything because he’s a shite teacher all around. Oh shit. She's failed _everything_. That's it. This is the end of her life. She's just flunked out of Hogwarts in the middle of a war and now her wand is going to be snapped!

Suddenly the letter was plucked from her hands, opened and returned unfolded so she could read her results.

ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS

Pass Grades: Outstanding (O) Fail Grades: Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

GRACE LILY POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures EE

Charms EE

Defence Against the Dark Arts O

Divination P

Herbology EE

History of Magic D

Potions EE

Transfiguration EE

Merlin! She'd passed! Her eyes flew over the parchment and she sighed happily and then chuckled out of sheer relief. To be fair, she was right about Divination and History of Magic but since she'd never have to use either of them in any job she'd want for herself, she really didn't mind. She was more than surprised with her Potions mark and fairly pleased she'd gotten a passing mark in Astronomy. Right. Well. That was actually pretty good, wasn't it? Seven O.W.L.S! That was rather brilliant wasn't it? She knew she wasn't stupid, but having confirmation of it was pretty nice at this stage.

She frowned at her failed History of Magic O.W.L., which wasn't really surprising given the fact that she'd fallen asleep half way through the exam and then had a horrible dream vision thing that Sirius was being tortured.

Sirius.

How long had she stopped thinking about him with grief in her heart? Probably around the same time she was finally honest with herself about who Sirius had really been instead of what she wanted him to be. That, and those letters he had sent her. Letters that she was still going through and probably still going to get. She had known that he hadn't been all there mentally, but to see it in black and white made her both glad and guilty he was dead. Glad because he wasn't around to wreck havoc on her life and guilty for feeling that way. Maybe if he had gotten help, maybe if she could have been honest with herself about their relationship, maybe if she hadn't been so desperate to get away from the Dursley's.

Those weren't thoughts for today though. Today she wasn't letting anything ruin this happy moment for her, not even Sirius, so she shoved all the negative thoughts aside and focused only on how happy and elated she was feeling.

"I passed!" She announced happily, turning to James and shoving the parchment in his face.

He laughed and gently grabbed her wrist, moving it so he could actually read her results but instead he kept eye contact with her. "I know, I opened them for you and may have looked."

"Rude." She joked, lightly knocking her shoulder against his.

"Someone had to stop you from panicking." He said pointedly as he slung an arm around her.

"What did you get?" Hermione interjected, beaming at Grace.

"Exchange?" Grace asked instead, already reaching for her results before handing over her own.

"I knew you'd get an O for Defence!" Hermione declared proudly.

Grace laughed happily. "Just like I knew you'd get ten O.W.L.’s!"

"What about you Ron?" Ginny asked, making the whole room realize how quiet Ron had been.

"I...I passed!" He stated, stunned. "Seven O.W.L.’s!"

"We're actually N.E.W.T. students!" Grace said with a certain amount of awe after they had all congratulated Ron. "Do you know what that means?"

"What?" Hermione asked, looking back at her parchment and beaming with joy.

"That we're going to get bombarded with homework now." Grace told them all solemnly.

Hermione rolled her eyes even as she laughed with the rest of the room. "You idiot!"

"Just trying to lighten the mood!" Grace cackled, gracefully dodging the piece of bread Hermione tried to throw at her head.

"My clever boy!" Mrs. Weasley stated proudly. "Seven O.W.L.’s!" She came around the table and hugged Ron fiercely. Ron turned a deep shade of red even though his smile turned brighter. "Oh, we should have a celebration! I'll get everything while I'm in Diagon Alley and getting you lot your school things."

"Oh good!" Hermione stated happily. "I've been meaning to get some more cat treats for Crookshanks."

"And I need some more owl treats for Hedwig." Grace said with a happy nod.

"Oh no dear, not you. Not with everything going on right now. Hermione and Ginny can join me since you girls know how to be less conspicuous together and I'm sure Remus wouldn't mind helping out either."

"Hang on, what do you mean I can't go get my school things with you? I've been out of the house loads of times!" Grace spluttered out, her good mood dwindling slowly.

"Yes, well, that was before dementors were roaming about and before they found Igor Karkaroff's body. There will be far too many potential threats around to be able to protect you."

"I don't need protection!" Grace stated forcefully.

"You most certainly do! Not to mention that the people who would protect you can't be seen protecting you unless you want them fired?" Mrs. Weasley bit out in return, a stern and scolding look on her face.

"This is ridiculous!" Grace protested even though she understood Mrs. Weasley’s standpoint.

"No, it's practical. You cannot go wandering about like there isn't a madman on the loose! For heaven's sake, _Ollivander is missing_!"

"I don't mind going Grace." Remus offered quickly before their argument could get out of hand.

"Darling, if you could put up a little less of a fight then you and I could still make our appointment at the Wizengamot." James murmured softly in her ear.

Right. Shite. She'd forgotten about that. She couldn't just suddenly appear to give in so she huffed about for a while and glared at the lot of them as they gathered their things to leave. Hermione cast her a worried look, so she sent her friend a wink and a small smile that was met with confusion and an eye roll. The things she did for James, honestly.

Time seemed to slip away from her and before she knew it, she was throwing floo powder into the fireplace and following James into the Ministry of Magic. Stepping out of the fireplace she gasped as her breath stuttered at the overwhelming feeling of multiple types of magic swirling around her before her necklace started working, filtering the excess magic around her into more manageable portions.

She had become so used to the magic in Diagon Alley and Grimmauld Place that it had become a distant thought when she was in either place. Here, because of what the Ministry was, there were layers upon layers of magic that danced around her and entwined together to protect one of the most important organizations of their world.

"Grace?" James asked, concern evident in the way he grabbed her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm, not letting go even as she relaxed at his touch.

"It's nothing, just the amount of magic here. It caught me by surprise." Grace clarified, a small smile on her lips.

She revelled in the way one person seemed to care about her enough that he took the time to make sure she was alright, despite the fact that she had barely uttered a sound. It was a novelty, this feeling, and she wasn't sure she would ever get used to it. Aware of their surroundings, they quietly made their way to the elevators and only nodded to the occupants until reaching their required floor.

"So I may have heard a rumour about you doubting your reaction to my Courtship gift." James started as the elevator raced away behind them.

Grace winced a little as she realized he was upset because she hadn’t gone to him with her worries. "How do you know that?"

"Your friend finds it difficult to keep information to herself when it concerns your wellbeing." James said lightly, his tone clearly indicating that he was less than pleased with Hermione's actions despite the fact that Grace knew he liked being informed.

"Is that so?" She replied, trying to keep her twitching lips to herself.

"Is there something in particular you were worried about?"

"Well, the meeting with, uh, man-snake isn't all rainbows and unicorns." Grace said softly, aware of the people bustling about around them.

"I shall ignore the name calling." He said with a slight shake of his head. "The point of Courting is that we make serious intentions to come together."

"You're asking for honesty?" Grace asked softly as they came to the Department of Registration.

"Not necessarily, I'm asking you to trust that I won't brush aside your worries." James said slowly, carefully, as he watched her.

"I'm a little anxious about the effects of the meeting." She confessed.

"In what way?"

"I'm afraid that in order to complete the truce between us, man-snake will make me do something I'm not comfortable with."

"Murder?" James inquired softly and Grace nodded. "I can't say it's not an unjust concern, with the Dark Lord anything is possible, but for the moment consider that truce negotiations are based strictly on the basis of peace. It's practically unheard of to request murder to seal the contract."

"Then why did I enjoy Umb...her demise as much as I did?"

James tugged her closer, turning her slightly so he could gently stroke her cheek as a sign of affection, the most he was allowed to do in public. "Is that what this is really about? Darling, you're not going 'dark'. Magic, in the way the world views it now, is presented in boxes of 'right' and 'wrong' magic."

"I-what?" Grace asked bewildered, having never heard of this approach to magic before.

"There is no such thing as dark magic, nor light for that matter, since both are simply magic." James clarified.

"If that's true then why do we even learn that there is a distinction?"

"Why does anything happen? Because people decided it had to be that way. Maybe it's safer, maybe someone didn't want the world to use a certain incantations." James said with a small shrug. “We will likely never know the true motivations.”

Grace narrowed her eyes. "That's not really an answer."

"Maybe it's not an answer you've heard before." James countered with a smirk.

"Hang on. Is this why you're not worried about the Black Courting stipulation?"

James tilted his head in consideration. "While I confess being unsurprised given the history of the Black family, that was not the reason it didn't faze me. Grace, when I left my time we were in the midst of war. You don't have time to hesitate when the opposition is firing killing curses at anything that moves."

"So you're not bothered because you're already used to using dark magic to protect yourself?" Grace asked, frowning at his explanation.

James nodded slowly. "I'd like to talk about this a little more, but we are currently not in a place I'm comfortable doing that."

"We can pick this up later." She allowed, curious about his view on magic and wondering if he grew up thinking about it that way. Was it one of the differences in growing up with magic versus without?

"For now, let's bring me back to life." James said with wink.

~

"What do you know." Grace remarked in an upbeat tone, laughter bubbling up with every step she took. "The Ministry _does_ have a Back-From-the-Dead department."

"How was I supposed to know that?" James groused, upset that they had been sent from one department to another before finally finding the right one, his temper fraying with every 'you're in the wrong department' that was lobbed their way.

"Well, I did mention that the Department of Registration didn't sound right." She helpfully pointed out.

"Yes, please rub it in." He grunted out sarcastically.

"All you had to do was a little bit of research." She continued on happily.

"It's impossible to research anything about this blasted place." He uttered darkly, glaring at the walls as they passed them.

"We could have been here for hours!" She replied cheerfully, bouncing on her feet and ignoring the particularly harsh glare she got from James as her mirth grew.

"I assure you, it wasn't that drastic."

"Mr. Rose seemed particularly happy to see us."

"As would I if I hadn't seen a single person in my Department for the entirety of my career." James muttered sullenly.

"Well that's not true. He told us about that one bloke, remember? Course, Mr. Rose eventually figured out he just wanted to escape a nasty breakup, but the point still stands." Grace said in a falsely thoughtful tone as they turned the corner.

"Lord Potter." Someone called before James could reply. "How fortunate seeing you here."

"Lord Malfoy, what a surprise." James said with such relief that Grace had to cough to stop herself from breaking into hysterical laughter. "May I introduce to you Lord Grace Black-Gryffindor."

"A pleasure." Lord Malfoy sneered even as he bowed to her.

Grace had no idea what to say because it really wouldn't be a pleasure to meet him, so she just nodded in return as she gave the older man a strained smile, the laughter from just seconds before quickly dying in the face of a man who had been happy to see her tortured.

"Lord, did you say?" Lord Malfoy asked, sharp eyes taking her in before turning back to James.

"Indeed. For the moment she will be joining me in the Wizengamot under Heir Potter."

"To observe, I presume? My Draco has accompanied me for the same reason. Ah, where are my manners. Lord Potter, Lord Black-Gryffindor, my son Heir Draco Lucius Malfoy."

"A pleasure." James intoned as Grace nodded her head again.

She knew this was how it was done, but that didn't mean it wasn't taking everything in her to stop herself from reaching out and trying to strangle both men. Then again, she thought as she saw Malfoy, why not have a little fun?

"A pleasure to see you again, Heir Malfoy. I admit I'm surprised Heir Parkinson has not joined you today. Did your business at the bank go awry?"

Anger flashed in Lord Malfoy's eyes as he slowly turned to Malfoy junior, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Not at all, that was merely a coincidence. Two people in the same place at the same time." Malfoy waved away, giving Grace a hard look once his father's eyes were off him. Grace just smirked at him.

"We should get situated." Lord Malfoy said shortly. "Draco. With me."

"You, darling, are a menace." James stated with a proud smile once they were out of earshot.

"Git deserved it."

"You know, I heard he was put under a chastity charm after the whole scandal with that Parkinson girl." He said offhandedly, a knowing look in his eyes.

"I think you're twice as bad as I could ever hope to be."

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, giving her a soft lingering kiss as he held eye contact. "Enjoy the show." He stated with a wink before ushering her to the Heir seating.

Grace walked up the steps to the gallery viewing and was pointed towards a seat behind James by an auror, no doubt to indicate she was his 'Heir'. She had read somewhere that it was only for the first time so the rest of the members could see their relation. After that she was free to sit wherever she wanted, something she no doubt would do since she liked to see how James reacted instead of watching how others reacted towards James.

"Merlin, did you have to do that?” Malfoy groused as he plopped himself down gracefully next to Grace.

"Ugh, no. What are you even doing here?" Grace moaned, jumping a little despite herself since she hadn't heard him coming.

"I'm here to do the same thing you are."

"Which is what? Bothering me to death?"

"Heir training. Why do you think any of us are here?" He asked, indicating the various other children in the visitor's section.

Grace frowned looking around the room and ignoring Malfoy's sarcasm. "Not a lot of them here."

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Of course not, these things are beyond boring. We're usually only made to go once a quarter but 'strongly advised' to accompany our Head of House on all the other occasions."

"And which is this for you?"

"Made to come. I would prefer to spend the last few days of our holiday at home, but father had other ideas."

"Hmm." Grace intoned non-committally.

Honestly, she didn't really know what to say to that. For starters, she would never know what it was like to have a father that made her do little things like this. For another, no one had ever been interested enough in her to ever want her to anything like this. Of course having Vernon show any kind of interest in her was beyond frightening, but he was sadly the only father figure type she'd ever known. Shit, that was actually really sad. Vernon as a father figure? Well, they were all lucky she wasn't worse off really.

"What about you?" He asked, a nod towards James.

Grace raised her eyebrows. "Are you going to stop pretending that you haven't met him before?"

"It isn't exactly like I could just shout it out, could I?"

"You've done worse. Speaking of which, no Parkinson today?"

"That was extremely underhanded. Are you the person that sent the note to Pansy's father?"

"Nope, I didn't even know you two were in a contract together."

Malfoy wrinkled his eyebrows in confusion. "Then how did you know to bring that up?"

Grace smirked. "James tells me everything. Chastity charm, Malfoy?"

Malfoy flushed scarlet and suddenly found the proceedings exceedingly interesting while Grace tried not to burst into laughter.

Twenty minutes later and Grace had had enough. She didn't know how she was going to do it when she was actually supposed to participate, but right now she was so close to falling asleep that Malfoy had started to elbow her every time she listed sideways, and to add insult to injury, they hadn't even started yet!

"Ulg, how long is this going to take?" She finally complained

"An hour or two, depending on what's on the docket."

Grace groaned quietly before she realized how accommodating Malfoy was being. "Why are you being nice to me? Have you got some other news that will spin my whole life upside down again? You're not harbouring my mother are you?"

"Merlin, the things you say. I'd..." He hesitated. "I know the last few years, we haven't exactly been friends."

Grace snorted and gave him an incredulous look. "Malfoy. Cut to the chase. What do you want?"

"Friendship. Yours. Or a truce at least."

"Not going to happen." Grace said shortly.

Malfoy looked affronted. "You're not even going to think about it?"

"What, exactly, is there to think about? You made fun of my dead parents, made my life miserable as often as possible, you fucking hunted me down last year for Umbridge! You would have let her _torture me_. What about that inspires friendship to you?"

"You could forgive me though."

"For-" she spluttered out in surprise. "Why the fuck would I do that?"

"Because I'm willing to forgive you." He said magnanimously.

"Yes. I really recall making ferret badges to pass around to the whole school. Fun times." Grace replied sarcastically.

Malfoy grit his teeth. "I'm only suggesting-"

"The impossible. Why would you even try?"

"Because we both know that our situations will be changing soon."

"_That's_ your reason to be friends?" Grace asked, not even trying to hide her incredulous expression.

"One of the reasons at least." Malfoy replied with a short nod, shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

Grace tried not to sigh but it was really hard not to. She realized she couldn't out right say 'no' because, as their history had shown her, Malfoy wasn't one to let things go. So telling him 'no' would most likely result in a heightened amount of sudden 'friendly' moments that would just piss her off more. Saying ‘yes’ was clearly out of the question because she didn't want to.

After almost six years of dealing with Malfoy and his many, many, _many_ antics against her, she really didn't feel like giving him any chances. More than that, the only reason he suddenly had a change of heart was because Voldemort had decided not to kill her. His motives were probably enforced by either his Lord or his father and she wasn't about to get sucked into whatever they had planned for her. If there was one thing she remembered was that Lord Malfoy never had a problem turning his brand of violence upon her and she had no doubt it was a family trait.

“Fine. Maybe.” She replied in a clipped tone. “Now shut up, I'm trying to follow this.”

Malfoy rolled his eyes and turned towards the Wizengamot, but a small victorious smile played on his lips.

"Order, order! Come to order! Thank you. Now that we are all finally here, let us begin. Any new joining members?" The Chief Warlock said loudly, grumbling at all the noise.

Two men stood up almost simultaneously and Grace could practically feel the way James was vibrating in place.

"You. Begin." The Chief Warlock pointed at the stranger.

"Lord Joshua Max, of the Noble House of Max." The stranger stated. "My documents proving I am who I say I am and my ability to take up my seat in the Wizengamot." He said as he gave a small stack of papers to the auror that had approached him.

The Chief Warlock took the papers from the auror and looked them over briefly, handing them off to the person next to him when he was done. "In order. You."

"Lord James Potter of the Most Noble House of Potter." James stated clearly. "My documents proving I am who I say I am and my ability to take up my seat in the Wizengamot."

The auror, who was already on his way back towards James, stumbled when he heard the name. The mostly quiet room had burst into murmurs that were rising with every word James spoke. If Grace had been able to see James's face instead of being stuck behind him, she probably would have seen the man's enjoyment of the chaos he was creating.

"ORDER!" The Chief Warlock screamed out, sparks shooting out of his wand as he banged a gavel down repeatedly to regain everyone's attention. "Auror, the papers!" He demanded, practically ripping them out of the poor aurors hands the moment he could. Grace watched in mild amusement as two beady eyes grew larger with each flipped page. "Change of plans. Today will be a closed session, all Heirs must leave immediately!" He demanded suddenly, pointing at the aurors on their level to start herding them out.

James turned to look at her, a devious smirk on his face as she raised an eyebrow in question. He nodded at her before turning his narrowed eyes towards Malfoy.

"Out! Out, out, _out_!" The Chief Warlock commanded, his gavel getting quite the workout.

"Let's go Potter." Malfoy said as he stood up, eyeing an auror coming their way.

"It's Black-Gryffindor now, Malfoy." Grace retorted as she smirked at James.

"Not yet, but it will be." Malfoy muttered as he escorted her out.

Grace took one last look over her shoulder and grinned delightedly when she caught James staring daggers into Malfoy's head. She'd hear the outcome of the meeting later, but right now she was far too pleased to get out of that stuffy room and leave James to have the fun he had planned.

\---******---

"Grace! Grace!" Hermione hissed at her, running into the room at full tilt and slamming into her and landing her back on the bed she had just vacated after she heard her friend hiss her name.

"Christ, 'Mione, you weigh an effing ton! Get off!" Grace huffed, ignoring the painful elbow that had somehow hit her under her ribs as they untangled their limbs.

"I did something exceptionally stupid!" Hermione wailed, getting off the bed with some difficulty.

Grace eyed her in trepidation as she checked if she was still in one piece. "What? Like you accidentally stole a book from the Hogwarts library?"

"Worse!" Hermione almost screamed. Grace's eyes grew big and a slight panic started to set in. If Hermione, book lover extraordinaire, said it was worse than accidentally stealing a book from a place you loved. Well. That's _bad_.

"Ok, ok, we can fix this, just tell me what you did." Grace ordered in a calm voice. Or, she hoped it was a calm voice because she certainly didn't feel calm.

"I went and got an inheritance test at Gringotts." She started, twisting her hands in agitation and walking small circles around the carpet. Grace stayed sitting on the bed figuring it was smarter not being in the path a panicking witch.

"I thought you went with the Weasley’s to buy your new school things? Where are mine?" Grace added as an afterthought.

She was still sore about being forced to stay behind like some stupid damsel in distress. Who the hell would care that she was getting her school things anyway? Ok, yes, sure, Voldemort might, but he likely didn’t want her dead anymore and his Death Eaters were probably made aware of this fact as well, though she probably shouldn’t be pinning any kind of hope on that. Sure, it wasn't like she could just come out and say that to the people staying in the house, but she wasn't a fucking prisoner! If she wanted to leave, she would, damnit! Except now, of course, when she didn't.

"Oh that's in the kitchen." Hermione said with an erratic wave of her hand. "But I got an inheritance test!"

"So you said. Was it bad?"

"Not bad. Good actually. Turns out I have Wizarding blood in my lines, on my father’s side. From the McKinnon line."

"Oh, well that sounds good." Grace prompted and then winced at the look she got from Hermione. "Is that not good?"

"No, that's good. Turns out a few hundred years ago there was a squib and they threw him out so he married a muggle because he thought he was a muggle but then a few hundred or so years passed and now I'm full on magical!"

Grace blinked a few times and tried her best to follow the flow of information. "So you're a McKinnon by blood?"

"Yes!"

"And that's the terrible thing that happened to you?" Grace asked, clearly not understanding why having Wizarding blood was such a bad thing. Wouldn't that help her?

"No!"

Grace waited but it seemed Hermione had retreated to panic in the confines of her mind. "So if it's not the terrible thing you did..." She prompted.

"The goblins asked if I wanted the Lordship so I said yes."

"They told me I couldn't do that until I was of age!" Grace said a little outraged.

"Well, yes that's true, but I'm quite literally the last of the line. There's no one else, I even asked the goblins to do a line check and I'm it. So I automatically gain the Lordship. Or Ladyship. Probably Ladyship, but that's not the point!"

"Alight." Grace said slowly, wondering what kind of addendums where on these Lordship things that the last of the line individuals could just snatch them up without any problems. "What's the point?"

"The point is that the Ladyship turns me into a pureblood like you."

"Like me? Hang on a minute-"

"Never mind that! I sent an official Courting request to Neville!" Hermione wailed in despair.

Grace's eyes grew large and her jaw dropped. "Holy fucking shit! Are you even allowed to do that?"

"Technically, yes. I'm the last of my line without any Matrons watching over me, so a Courting contract would be well within my rights to initiate."

"So what's the problem? Beside the whole Neville thing." Grace added quickly seeing Hermione's wild eyes.

"This!" Hermione practically shouted, shoving a piece of parchment at her.

Grace took the parchment and read it, her eyes growing larger with every line she read. It turned out that the McKinnon line had several marriage contracts open and Hermione, by accepting the Lordship, had opened up those contracts and made them valid again.

"Oh boy." Grace breathed. "You've really stepped in it and this time it's not even my fault."

"What's going on here?" James asked as he surveyed the room from the doorframe. Grace gave Hermione a questioning look before getting the nod that she was allowed to fill in James.

"'Mione here went to Gringotts to get herself an inheritance test and found out that she's a McKinnon so she took the Lordship and sent off a Courtship offer to Neville Longbottom, only it seems she was too quick because it turns out she has Marriage contracts open that could apply to her and now she's freaking out." Grace offered as succinctly as possible.

James blinked a few times while his brain caught up with the condensed explanation before smiling and walking over to Grace. Her breath caught a little at the smile so when he held out his hand she put hers into it without a thought. The smile turned into a delighted grin.

"No darling, the paper if you will." She closed her eyes and huffed a little as her ears burned but gave him the paper. He leaned in to her until she felt the stubble of his beard slide along side her cheek. "I do like that colour on you." He whispered before kissing her softly on the same cheek he had just brushed against.

She flopped back on the bed with a low groan as she took a moment to sink into her embarrassment. She lifted her head in time for Hermione to glare at her. She rolled her eyes and nodded. Hermione's turn to have problems, message received.

"What do you think?" Grace asked James.

"How much of this did you read?" He asked, sitting against Grace's headboard and scanning the parchment.

"All of it." Hermione said distractedly, still walking in circles.

"Not well enough." He mumbled, poking at the parchment with his wand and making a thoughtful sound. Hermione stopped being worried long enough to look outraged.

"What do you mean?" Grace asked quickly before her best friend could blow up at James. He didn't take kindly to that sort of thing. Ron was a prime example.

"It seems," he started, "that by sending out your own Courting request you have rendered most of these null and void."

Grace perked up. "Really? Which ones?" She asked as she moved to peer at the parchment. He smiled at her and somehow managed to manoeuvre her between his legs, her back to his front. She blinked and huffed at him. "Was that necessary?" She asked, only slightly annoyed at his blatant man-handling because she loved when he did it and refused to admit it.

James put his arm around her waist and whispered in her ear. "I like having you close, darling."

"Would you two knock it off!" Hermione screeched incensed. James rolled his eyes at her and glared her into sitting across from them.

"Are you calmer now?" He asked when she was finally seated.

"Not even a little, but I can fake it all I need to." She snarked.

"Fantastic. This is what you need to know. Of the seventeen contracts, three were already out-of-date, six applied to men, and one is inapplicable simply because of your blood status." Hermione tried to say something but another glare had her keeping her mouth shut. "Of the remaining seven contracts five of them are out of the running because you sent out your own offer."

"Why are they out?" Grace asked in interest. She didn't think she'd ever tire of hearing him explain the nuances of Wizarding society from a Pureblood standpoint.

"Lord McKinnon is the last of her line so it likely has something to do with House rules." James said simply, kissing her cheek again. She relaxed against him and looked at Hermione who seemed to have calmed down a great deal.

"And the last two?" Hermione asked, once she had digested the information.

"Ah. Those are a problem." He conceded.

"I knew it!" Hermione yelled, jumping up and resuming her frantic pacing.

Grace rolled her eyes. "You know, crazy stuff like this only happens to me. You should be pretty safe."

"I've been friends with you for six years, your 'crazy stuff' rubs off on me!"

"Are you blaming her?" James asked in a mild voice.

Hermione froze and looked at him. She swallowed audibly and shook her head. "I would never." She almost whispered. "I'm not handling this very well, am I?" She added ruefully.

"Not really." James said, his voice lighter now.

"Why did you go get an inheritance test anyway?" Grace asked. Hermione didn't just do things out of the blue, she planned and researched everything to death before she made any kind of decision.

"Well, mostly because of you." Hermione said with a shrug. James stiffened beneath her. "Not like that!" Hermione said quickly. "When you told me about what they could tell you about you from just a drop of your blood, I got interested. Does magic simply appear in muggles or is there something more? Are there lines of magic from muggles that can be traced back to the magical world? I had so many questions. So when we went to get out school things I had Ginny distract her mother while I made excuses to go to Gringotts and asked for a test there. Once I found out about the McKinnon Lordship, well...I couldn't let it go. I already know most of the rules, obviously, and if I really want to make a change for the better in this world, what better platform to start from? So, I took it. Got the Lordship and everything that goes with it."

"Everything indeed." James muttered with an amused look.

"Shit. 'Mione, that's just...fuck." Grace breathed. Hermione nodded. "So what about the remaining two?" Grace asked instead of pointing out how a usually thoughtful person just threw out all of her good brain cells and went with her gut.

James took a deep breath. "Option one: Marry someone from the Lestrange line. Old line, powerful magic, and were very conscious of not intermingling bloodlines. They would have made sure that any Lestrange/McKinnon marriages were several centuries ago to avoid any potential...muddying of the line. I would advise against them though since they are well known for their hatred towards muggles. Option two is an old family from Bulgaria. They wanted a way into British society and the McKinnon’s were light oriented enough to help the family make good impressions during the war."

"Would that have been necessary?" Grace asked confused.

"Wizarding Britain has been taught that Dark is evil and as the last war progressed, this view was stamped into our brains with every death. Bulgaria is seen as a mostly Dark country. So if they wanted lines here, they would have to go for either a Light family or a Grey family. Light would be better because they would be seen as mostly Grey, whereas if they had chosen Grey, they would have probably been seen as Dark." James answered her.

Grace sighed. "Someone really ought to change that."

"Someone is trying darling." He said softly.

"Why are these contracts still in effect if they were set up during the last war?" Grace asked, when the thought popped up of how long ago it actually had been since the last war.

"Most Purebloods don't make contracts for specific women unless their Heirs are either in love or desperate." Hermione said absentmindedly. "It's safer to make a more general contract that could apply to the entire line so that your family still has the option of marrying into 'fresh' lines."

"Fucking wizards." Grace mumbled. "So that's why you have to marry a Lestrange. Neville won't like that." Grace pointed out.

"Unless he says yes to my courting and all of this goes away!" Hermione said, stopping suddenly and brightening up.

James cleared his voice. "I hate to burst the happy bubble, but Heir Longbottom won't accept the contract."

"What?" Hermione and Grace asked in unison.

"Before today, Lord McKinnon was a nobody mudblood with very little to nothing to her name. Lady Longbottom is not only Heir Longbottom's grandmother, but she is also the regent of his House until he comes of age. He is also a Pureblood himself, so as much as you would prefer to think the best of your friend, he will never accept a contract from someone with a standing as low as yours was previously." James informed them. "Besides that, the Longbottom family isn't as inbred as the majority of the darker Houses and wouldn't feel the need to correct their bloodlines by marrying a newly minted Lord with 'fresh' blood."

"That's terrible." Grace said after a small silence. "Neville wouldn't do that to her."

"I can assure you, he would. Not only would his grandmother dismiss the suit out of hand simply because of who Lord McKinnon used to be, but she is honour bound to ask for his opinion on who he should wed. He will say 'no' because his House and his line demand it of him. Say what you will about the Purebloods, but there's a reason their ways haven't changed in centuries."

"You think Neville will say 'no' because I'm a mudblood?" Hermione asked softly, fear and heartbreak already written across her face.

"Yes." James said simply, not willing to coddle her. "When you see him again on the train, he will come up to you and ask your forgiveness but say that his grandmother put his foot down and he couldn't refuse her. He will ask that you two date anyway, because he's probably does have feelings for you of some sort.” Grace started to pale at the implications. She looked at Hermione and could see that the girl had no idea where this was going. "When you say yes, he will eventually have sexual intercourse with you."

Hermione shook her head at that. "I'm saving myself for marriage."

James simply looked at her. "Heir Longbottom is a dear and trusted friend. You feel safe with him. You would have had sex with him. He, being the kind of boy he is, would have dragged it out all year, but at the end of that year, he would have broken ties."

"Broken ties?" Grace asked, feeling heartbroken for her best friend. "Why would he do that?"

"He cannot have a girlfriend once Courting begins. What he will have is experience to please his Pureblood wife."

Hermione sat down heavily on the bed. "Neville isn't like that." She tried weakly.

"Neither was I." James stated, not unkindly. "But I did it anyway."

Hermione turned to look at her. She shrugged. "Lily." She said softly, not willing to mention more than that. The details were between her and James and were not fodder for gossip.

"And you're ok with this kind of behaviour?" Hermione asked in a shrill tone.

"No." Grace said fiercely. "Because I know it would have happened to me if I was even a little interested in the boys at Hogwarts."

"What do you mean?" James asked with a frown.

Grace sighed. "Since I haven't been raised with the knowledge I should have had, I was left open to attacks like this. Things muggleborns should know but don't because we aren't taught these things. Cedric...Cedric wanted more than I was willing to give."

"The brat that stole your first kiss?" James growled and Grace nodded slowly. It wasn't like she was out to hurt Cedric’s memory by telling James this information, but Cedric had been trying to hurt her. He knew she didn't know what the protocols were, how she was supposed to be acting, dressing, speaking. He made a fool out of her and took her first kiss on top of that. Part of her was intensely glad he was dead.

"If he had done that, to you..." Hermione said, unease creeping into her voice. "Maybe you didn't know the protocol or the customs, but you were still a prominent figure in the Wizarding world. The last Potter, the bloody Girl-Who-Lived!"

Grace sighed. "And it would have happened regardless because we're all horny teenagers stuck in the same place for months on end. Look at Malfoy and Parkinson. Those two aren't supposed to do anything until after they graduate, but they didn't wait."

"Parkinson?" James questioned, brow furrowed in thought.

"A real bitch." Hermione bit out while Grace giggled softly. Nothing could amuse her more than Hermione's hatred for Pansy Parkinson.

Mentioning Parkinson seemed to have put the fighting spirit back into her because Hermione squared her shoulders and nodded sharply. "There's no way I would ever marry a Lestrange, Neville or no Neville. Bellatrix would be my sister-in-law and I couldn't live with myself if that happened. So option two it is." Hermione paused. "Who was option two again?"

James snorted. "A Bulgarian family." He picked up the parchment again. "Family by the name of Krum."

Hermione froze in place. Grace gaped at Hermione. "Holy. Fucking. Shit." Grace said softly, stunned by the good outcome. "Is that a common Bulgarian name?" She asked quickly.

James shrugged. "No idea. Why is this important?"

"Hermione met a Viktor Krum during our fourth year." Grace told him, turning to face him.

His eyes lit up in laughter. "The world is a terribly small place." He told her, and leaned in to place a chaste kiss on her lips. She smiled at him and licked her lips. She hummed in reply.

"If there's a chance..." Hermione started.

"You take it." Grace told her, her head snapping back to face her friend. "Even if it isn't Viktor, you don't really have another choice here. Take it." She ordered.

"Yes. Right. I should go do that." Hermione nodded. "How do I do that?" She asked James.

James rolled his eyes but handed her the parchment. "Take your wand and tap it on the name of the family you intend to accept and then verbalize the acceptance. Afterwards, I would suggest sending them an owl. They would already be aware of the possibility of the marriage since every family is made aware when a contract is open to the next generation, so to speak. It shows good breeding and a willingness to enter into the contract with good faith. You send the letter, they decide if they have a son or daughter that is willing to step into the marriage.

I would strongly advise you telling them upfront who you used to be if you think this boy will be the same one. It shows good intentions towards your future spouse and his or her family."

"A daughter?" Hermione asked, not quite shock on her face.

James snorted at the look. "Fear not, orientation is always taken into account, but you should be aware that if the family does not have sons you will be honour bound to fulfil the contract.

You did initiate it after all."

"Here's hoping it's Krum 'Mione." Grace said as she crossed both her fingers in a hopeful gesture.

Hermione rolled her eyes before something occurred to her. "Will it make a difference? Me being muggleborn?" Hermione asked in a small voice.

"You are a Lord now, the past doesn't matter." James said firmly.

"That wouldn't stop the other Houses from talking about it." Grace pointed out.

James was already shaking his head before she had stopped talking. "It will become an open secret. You will be looked down on, will be cut to ribbons verbally in social settings, but no Lady of good breeding will ever bring up your unfortunate past now that you hold a vote in the most important institutions in our world. You hold power now, more power than other Ladies who are either married into their titles or are holding them for their children. This belongs to you outright. They cannot take it away from you by any means. You are a Lord with a seat in the Wizengamot. You have power now." James told her.

It seemed the right thing to tell her because she got a second wind and quickly tapped her acceptance on the parchment. It glowed golden for a few seconds before the deed was done. Hermione smiled brightly and then walked to her own room to start working on the letter she would send her new in-laws.

"I'm glad it's easier between us." Grace said, relaxing back into James. He put his chin on the top of her head and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her tight.

"I'm never letting you go." He told her.

"Do you really think that Neville will do that to her?" She asked again, wanting his honest opinion.

James sighed deeply. "I think Neville wants his grandmother's approval despite his own wishes. I think breeding and status changes us and Neville will have gotten the 'future' talk this past summer. I think,” he said slowly making sure his words were right, “that he may have had feelings for Lord McKinnon and will have dated her just as I said earlier. He will not mean to use her, but he will. He would have broken her heart."

"And now?" She asked curiously.

"Now? Now she will be formally Courted by a man her magic has told her is a better fit."

"Her magic?" Grace asked perplexed. "When did her magic get a say in this?"

"If they were not compatible, the golden flare would have been a blue flare. White and silver are the more common colours, but gold is better. Gold means there is a potential for love."

Grace nodded. "Good. She deserves to be happy."

"For everything she has done for you, she does." James replied. Grace wanted to object to that but knew it was useless. She understood that James honestly didn't care for anyone other than her. For him to concede that Hermione had value in her life was a fairly big step that she would grab with both hands. He was trying.

\---******---

She felt surrounded, out of control, and so full of fire it was burning her alive.

He was always around, always touching, always smiling, looking, wanting, taking.

She was daring him closer, daring him to take her, possess her, claim her.

They called it grooming. They called it wrong. They called it twisted and dark and disgusting. She called it hers.

It was a truth she had been hiding from herself for some time now. How much she wanted him. How much she craved his attention, his touches, the desires she felt creeping in on the darkest parts of the night and held tight in a fist of power that defied logic and expectation.

She wanted.

She needed.

She craved.

He was water in a drought and she was gorging on it without being able to stop herself. She didn't want him to stop, she didn't want to stop herself.

To be loved.

To be possessed.

To be owned.

It was a dark truth she couldn't hide from anymore. She would let him in, would let him see. She was going to let out those tendrils of black that had slowly been weaving around the light. She hadn't wanted to fall before, didn't have a reason to.

Sirius had been reason enough to let the black out. Reason enough to let it play but he had left her writhing, bleeding, broken. Had let the dark suffer under the light.

But she had beaten it back because there had been a mission, a cause, she didn't stand behind, a symbol she had to be. She was looked at, watched, controlled.

Until James. James broke the mould, broke the silence, let the dark out of the cage she had hidden it in.

That was her fear. That was her secret. How easy it had been to fall and how easy it would be to do it again. She would. For him. For them. For their lives. She would make the world bleed and revel in the gore.

If she fell too far, who would be there to make sure she got up again? She wasn't sure James would. Wasn't sure Remus wanted to. Hermione was her string, her rope, her compass of morality that she refused to let go. Without Hermione the world needed to fear her.

They had given her something she had always wanted: home, family, love.

What wouldn't she do to keep that?

What would she do to ensure it stayed hers?

Dangerous questions. Deadly answers.

How far would Hermione let her fall?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The almostkindofsmut was so much harder than I thought, so I’d love to know if it came out even somewhat decent. On that note, I'm still maintaining the no underage sex and I hadn't planned on writing anything explicit but (when we finally get there because I have no idea how long this will be) if anyone's interested I might add something in as an epilogue? Thoughts?  
Thanks for reading!


	9. I Was a Fool For You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, a wrench! Enjoy the bolts coming loose!  
No beta, mistakes run rapid.

The problem with finally figuring out her own feelings was that she finally figured out her own feelings. It left Grace with the uncomfortable knowledge that not only did she now have to talk to Remus about her feelings but also that she didn't know what she was going to say to him.

Oh, she knew what she wanted to say but it wasn't as if she would actually do it. She couldn't very well sit him down and say 'hey Remus. Listen, I've been doing some thinking and after learning about, well, everything, I'm going to have to break things off. You full on abandoned me when I was just a baby and you never even looked back. You were quite literally the only one left that could have taken care of me and you kind of just washed your hand of me. Then you appear as my teacher and lie to me for months on end about who you actually are and I kind of resent you for it. You had years to come and find me, years to check on me and see if I was all right and a good two years to write to me when you knew I would be going to Hogwarts. You did nothing. I'm going to go ahead and choose James and oh by the way, I'm not totally sure where you fit in my life now.' Yeah. No, that was a little harsh despite it being true.

It had to be done though and the best way to just get it over with was to sit down with Remus and explain it all. She had turned it over in her mind for hours and at the end of the day she realized couldn't accept his actions or his reasons and therefore couldn't imagine how he justified abandoning her so casually all these years. Maybe she could have done it if she had been placed with anyone other than the Dursley's, somewhere safe and happy where a reveal like this wouldn't have crushed their chances down to nothing.

She hadn't really been thinking when she decided to jump into a relationship with both men, hadn't considered her future. Even in the Wizarding world it was unheard of to be bound to more than one person, and a werewolf on top of that? It wasn't even that she cared that Remus was a werewolf (because she really didn’t care) but she had never actively considered what that would mean for her future.

She didn’t really want to feel like she was rejecting him because of his werewolf status and the possible repercussions in an unnamed ideal future because first and foremost she was choosing James. James had always been her first choice and Remus had been a pleasant surprise. Did it help that James was still only twenty-two to Remus’ thirty-six? If she hadn’t learned about Remus abandoning her then no, but after that revelation? Yes, it did matter.

It mattered because James jumped from one time to another, essentially still being the same person he was when Grace had been a baby. Remus, on the other hand, had all those years to grow up and grow outside of the war. Remus had chosen to leave her, he had chosen to have nothing to do with her all these years and she couldn’t help but think that a man his age, with his experiences, should have known better. Love, or the burgeoning of love in this case, wasn’t enough to override the betrayal he had heaped on her. Simply put, she couldn't trust him anymore.

On top of that, how would her future have really looked like, objectively? Bonded to James but mated to Remus? Werewolves didn't usually marry and she doubted marriage meant very much to Moony, but she wondered if it meant anything to Remus and how that would have gone. Would he have baulked eventually? Wanted something as permanent as James? She had seen him hesitate more than once when it came to her and she had picked up enough of his reluctance that she knew he wasn’t comfortable with their age difference. Not that Moony seemed to have any problem with it, but it did point out to her a vast difference between the wolf and the man.

It was part of the reason she was glad James had taken the decision out of her hands the way he had. She hadn't known or realized how his reluctance to be with her was affecting her own views and how reluctant she had become in return. Beyond that, Remus seemed to have a very set opinion on her joining the Wizengamot and having her own Houses. He wasn’t vocal about it, but she had noticed how quickly he changed the subject when she mentioned either and how he never gave her anything other than minimal opinions back when pressed.

Would he have eventually resented Grace for her political obligations? Would he have made her hand over her tasks to James? In a way, she did understand why he was reluctant to have anything to do with the Ministry or the Houses since they were the very reason he was scorned in this world and unable to provide for himself. It was part of the reason he hated himself so much for being a monster.

James had essentially taken all of these worries and thrown them out the window when he had ‘tricked’ her into agreeing to an exclusive Courtship. By magic itself she wasn't allowed to be any kind of intimate with Remus now, not for a whole year and she couldn’t lie to herself anymore how much of a relief that had been. Now all she had to do was just tell Remus.

She was distracted from these thoughts when the kitchen door opened and the man in questions walked through the door.

"Grace?" Remus asked, slightly surprised at finding her in the kitchen.

"Hi Remus." Grace replied with a small nod, nerves getting the better of her already.

"You've been looking for me." Grace nodded, giving the wolf a half smile that he returned. "Ah." He said softly, knowingly. "James."

"What?" Grace asked, eyes narrowed in confusion.

Remus smiled at the look on her face and elaborated. "That look is usually followed by whatever James decided to do."

"It wasn't just James. He-I mean we-and it was totally unintentional because it just happened you see, really it was all in the moment and I didn't quite realize what happened until after." Grace stumbled out.

Remus chuckled lightly. "I'm afraid you're going to have to translate that for me."

"Oh." Grace blushed. "Right. Sure. James gave me a Courtship gift and then offered for a formal Courtship of a year. Which I accepted."

Remus frowned. "I would assume so, considering our actions of late. Why does that require a conversation between us?"

"Well, you see, the thing is that James sort of slipped something in there that I hadn't realized at the time, but later I did and-"

"Grace." Remus stated firmly.

"He asked for an exclusive Courtship which I accepted." The silence that followed made Grace uneasy. Not so much because of the silence itself, but because she had never seen Remus go silent quite like this before and it was scaring her a little. "Remus?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing to worry about Grace." He stated soothingly. "I assume he kept you otherwise occupied when he stated his intent?" Grace nodded cautiously. "Yes, I thought so."

"This...isn't really the reaction I was thinking I would get. Not that I really expected something, mind, but...well, this is a little..." Grace trailed off helplessly.

"Underwhelming?" Remus suggested kindly.

Grace shrugged helplessly. "I suppose so."

Remus chuckled humourlessly. "I suppose it would look like that from someone who didn't grow up with James."

"Meaning what?” Grace asked in surprise. “You expected this to happen?"

"Maybe not this exactly, but something along these lines yes."

"So you're not upset?"

"I'm not sure 'upset' is the word I would use currently, no." Remus allowed slowly, his mind still clearly far away as he silently worked something over in his mind.

Grace opened her mouth but had nothing to say to that so she sucked in a helpless breath.

"I'm sorry Grace but I'm going to have to cut our conversation a little short. There's something I need to look into." Remus stated before giving her a kiss on the side of her head and walking out the door.

"Alright?" Grace said to an empty room before sighing loudly.

That went like nothing she had hoped and resolved absolutely nothing. Which only meant that she'd need to have another little chat with Remus about how they definitely weren't going to continue their relationship and how he had utterly betrayed her her whole life. _Fantastic_.

\---******---

"Hey Grace. Can I join you?" Hermione asked as she knocked on the door of the study.

"Sure, plenty of space." Grace mumbled as she flipped through several papers before turning back to the previous one with a deep sigh.

Hermione put down her papers on a free table before looking back at Grace. "What are you doing?"

"My house-elves have decided it's time to put the cottage in Ireland to use so they demanded I start figuring out how I want it to look." Grace said as she sat back in her chair. “I think they’re bored and now that they have me they’re bullying me into keeping them busy.”

Hermione furrowed her brow in confusion. "How are you supposed to do that when we’re leaving tomorrow?"

Grace held up a stack of parchment. "They gave me a list of things I can use from my other properties and a list of things they can buy for me if I don't see anything they like."

"Can I..." Hermione asked as she pointed to the papers.

"Hm? Oh sure." Grace said with a nod as Hermione walked over to her and leaned over her shoulder to get a better look at the parchment she was holding.

"How are you supposed to choose when it's just a list? Doesn't that make it harder?" Hermione mumbled as she read through the very long list of items.

"Ah, my short-sighted friend!" Grace crowed happily.

Hermione groaned. "Oh boy."

"Of all the things you learned in the Wizarding world, there's still so much for you to learn!"

"I shouldn't have asked." Hermione mumbled as she straightened up again and rolled her eyes.

"I tap the item I want a look at with my wand and it expands on the paper with a more detailed description of the object along with a picture." Grace said, getting serious again. She tapped the tip of her wand to a random settee and they both watched as the parchment unfolded to show a complete description of the object and a picture in which all the angles of the settee in question where shown.

"They may be magical, but they haven't said anything about how comfortable that thing is." Hermione muttered as she read the information.

"Who cares?” Grace snorted, feeling a little uncharitable after reading the list for as long as she had. “It's a cottage, no way am I putting anything like this in there."

"Fair." Hermione said with nod.

Putting down her parchment, Grace pointed her wand towards the stack that Hermione had brought with her. "What did you need quiet time for anyway?"

"Quiet time?"

"The study is one of the last places in the house anybody would look in for either of us." Grace said as Hermione laughed.

"I have a household to run!" Hermione uttered in glee as she looked over the folders she had gotten from the goblins.

"What, you're happy you've gone back to the Victorian era?" Grace asked with a snort as she looked through the options for couches on the parchment that held things from her other properties.

"I'm happy I have a place in this world now, thank you very much." Hermione retorted loftily.

"You had a place before." Grace pointed out despite knowing exactly what she meant.

"Yes, but I wouldn't really have gotten anywhere, would I?"

Grace shrugged as she circled an option that interested her. "Who's to say? Maybe the outcome of the war would have changed everything."

"Yes, and pigs can fly. Don't answer that." Hermione warned quickly, followed by a glare when Grace opened her mouth.

She held up her hands in innocence. "I wasn't going to say a thing."

"Please. You've got three quips ready to go, I know you." Hermione said as she narrowed her eyes at Grace.

Grace snorted but smiled, knowing Hermione wasn't wrong. "That's not a lot of files by the way." She said, changing the subject.

"It isn't?" Hermione asked as she looked at the stack of papers in front of her.

"Did you ask for all the files?" Grace asked knowingly.

"No.” Hermione said slowly. “These were the files I was handed to by Grinluff."

Grace winced. "You're going to have to go back and ask them for all the full files pertaining to your House."

"Why? I thought this was it?" Hermione asked, brandished one of the files towards Grace.

"That's likely just an overview of everything. One for the house-elves, one for your vaults, one for your properties, and one for your financial investments."

"And? Isn't that what I need?"

"Maybe if you had proper Heir training and where taking over from your father, but you're taking over a dead line that's been dormant for who knows how long. You need the in-depth stuff so you can familiarize yourself with your House or else the little stuff will come back to haunt you later and to do that you need all the files, not the summary."

"I forgot that you'd already been through all this." Hermione said on a sigh, deflating a little as she stared at the small stack in front of her.

"Trust me, I wish I hadn't. Goblins are a handful, I swear."

"Yes, I've heard you."

Grace put her hands over her heart and moaned in offense. "Lovely, try to help a friend out and she insults you!"

Hermione giggled at her antics. "It's not an insult if it's true." She taunted.

Grace’s mouth dropped open in feigned shock. "See if I ever help you again!"

"You're a handful, you know that right?" Hermione said with a grin.

"Pssshh, I prefer prime entertainment, thank you."

"So I have to ask for all of the files separately or just all of the files in one?" Hermione asked, getting back on track.

"Just say full files pertaining to your House." Grace advised, eyes drifting back to her parchment as came to a section on beds.

"And why didn't they give them to me straight away?" Hermione asked, tilting her head in a way that made Grace think she was trying to solve a puzzle.

"Because you didn't ask for them." Grace snorted, finding it a little funny that she knew more about this than Hermione.

"But how would I know to ask for them?" Hermione exclaimed outraged.

Grace shrugged. "Not their problem."

"It bloody well should be." Hermione mumbled. "What happens after?"

"After what? After you ask for the files and get them?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

"They give them to you and you spend the next few weeks going over every minuscule detail of your House while learning about the responsibilities you've accidentally-on-purpose dumped on yourself and then you go about sorting out your House and bringing it back to modern times. Well,” Grace amended as she looked over her dining room table options, “as modern as you can get it at least."

"Right.” Hermione said slowly. “That was a ringing endorsement."

"Speak to me once you get the files back." Grace snarked, tired of the conversation when Hermione really didn't have any idea of how frustrating this all could be. She would learn though, and Grace would be right there to be a smug arse like a good friend would.

A chime sounded around them and Grace checked her watch.

"Time to go?" Hermione asked, already shuffling her files together.

"Time to go." Grace agreed.

"Do you know where he's taking you?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "No, he said he wanted it to be a surprise. Have you heard anything from Krum yet or is waiting a day for an answer wishful thinking?" Grace returned, watching in interest as Hermione blushed a light pink as she busied herself picking up her folders.

"Well, so far I've only written his father as head of the family and the person I'll be negotiating the contract with. I'm not allowed to contact Victor directly yet until we get the basics out of the way."

"So that's a 'no' then?" Grace laughed lightly.

"Not exactly. I've gotten letters from his father and mother and we're trying to sort out the details, but they're both really happy with the contract so I don't think it will take too long before we're allowed to court."

Grace nodded in acceptance before a thought struck her. "What about your parents?"

"What about my parents?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes and a warning in her voice.

"Nothing like that, Merlin. How does it all work with your parents being muggles? I mean, you're the Head of your House and technically of age, but your parents are still alive but they're not magical."

"Oh. Well, technically speaking they don't have a say in my life since I took up the McKinnon Lordship, but since they are my parents they'll still be involved because, and I'm not sure about this, I'll need their parental approval for the final stage of Courtship."

"Which means you'll need the Krum's approval as well." Grace surmised. "Glad I don't have to deal with that."

Hermione lifted an eyebrow in hefty judgement. "You do realize that you have a parent that's alive as well right?"

"Yes. And?"

"You'll probably need his consent." Hermione pointed out.

Grace scoffed. "Maybe if he knew I was his daughter, but since he doesn't it won't work like that."

Hermione raised her eyes to the heavens in exasperation. "That's exactly how it works, and on top of that, magic will know."

"Know that my father who doesn't know he's my father hasn't given his blessing for his daughter to marry the man he despises above all else?" Grace asked sarcastically.

"You're being stubborn.” Hermione said flatly. “All I'm saying is that you'd better check it out before you plan your Bonding and then realize you can't actually bond because you never asked for your fathers blessing."

"Is this because you're worried about your own in-laws?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's not as bad as you're thinking. They're really very lovely people."

Grace snapped her fingers before pointing at her friend. "Oh, that reminds me, you should probably find out if your House has a personal attorney or not."

"Stop changing the subject." Hermione frowned at her. "You went from in-laws to attorneys? You know people can actually _like_ their in-laws right?"

Grace shrugged. "I'm not avoiding anything, it just popped in my head since it was something I hadn't known and it wasn't really written anywhere."

"What does it matter if I do have a House attorney?"

"Well, you might be insulting the firm or person if you get into trouble and don't use them. Also, as a female and Head of your House, it's probably smart to get an attorney to look over any contract. Just in case."

"That...makes sense. And is good advice." Hermione allowed.

"I hate you." Grace grumped.

Hermione grinned unrepentantly. "Did you do that for your own contract?"

"With James?" Grace asked. "Not in the way you're thinking. We wrote the contract together and signed it before I sent it off to my attorneys to make it legal."

"Is that legal?" Hermione questioned incredulously.

"Dunno. My attorneys sent me some very strong worded letters that if I ever did something like that again, they'd bar me from being allowed to sign anything ever again without their say-so."

Hermione nodded sagely. "Well, they're not wrong."

"I will hit you. Hard. With strong intent." Grace threatened darkly.

"Speaking of, I've got a question I can't find the answer to."

Grace gapped. "_That's_ what you got out of my threat?"

"It reminded me." Hermione shrugged. "And you can't judge."

"It's only because I like you, really." Grace declared dramatically.

"Thing is, after I accepted the House and Lordship, my magic has been a little..." Hermione hesitated.

"Overwhelming?" Grace finished.

"Yes! Is that something common? Did that happen to you?"

"As far as I can tell it happens to everyone who gains a House or is part of a House."

Hermione frowned and pondered that for a moment. "Any theories?"

"Not so much that could be investigated no, but I think that once you accept the responsibilities of a House you become connected to the magic that ties it together. Sort of like a special brand of family magic that ties you closer to the roots of magic because every generation adds their own magic to the line."

"So me, as a muggleborn, would never have felt this feeling?"

Grace nodded. "It puts a distance between you and the purebloods because they can feel magic in a way you couldn't."

"Which is probably the main point in the strife between purebloods and muggleborns." Hermione added thoughtfully.

"Probably way back when, now its just prejudiced shite."

"Probably." Hermione said with a chuckle. "So a muggleborn would never feel the magic I'm feeling now and, what? Always wonder why they were on the outs?"

Grace hummed. "I had wondered about that and maybe? Because if you have a daughter with another muggleborn then you kind of start your own House. Not in any tangible or legal way, but your magic and his magic created this little being and their magic now has roots."

"So it would be more stable than mine?"

"Not more stable, but maybe more connected in a way you aren't."

"Interesting. So each subsequent generation would feel closer to magic until the time my muggleborn line would feel what I'm feeling."

Grace nodded. "That's my theory."

"It's an interesting one." Hermione nodded in agreement, a thoughtful look still on her face. "How did you come to these conclusions?"

"Not a conclusion, per se, more a running theory. It started when I saw all the layers of magic at Grimmauld Place, then in Diagon Alley, and it sort of cemented at the Ministry of Magic."

"Why on earth there?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Because there's so much magic layered on top of magic that you're practically breathing magic, but the magic was different. With Grimmauld Place you could feel what type of magic it was and you could sense where it came from."

"But maybe that's because you own it now. Well, because you're the Lord of House Black I mean."

Grace nodded. "Could be, but that just proves my theory. I'm connected to it, so it resonates for me."

"And the magic in the Ministry didn't?"

Grace cocked her head in thought. "Not the way family magic does. It was more an acknowledgement of the amount of magic it had taken to keep the Ministry in tact."

"Interesting. I wonder if there's any sort of research done on the subject."

Grace shrugged. "Maybe. But if you grew up with it your whole life and muggleborns can't see or feel it, why would you?"

Hermione frowned. "That's a silly thought. Haven't you ever wondered how something works? Like a battery or the telly?"

"Not really. They just worked." Grace shrugged.

"Heathen." Hermione said on a loud sigh. “I'm going to look it up, there's bound to be something on the subject.”

"You do that, I have a date to get ready for." Grace said as she wiggled her eyebrows, making Hermione laugh as they parted ways.

\---******---

"So where are you taking me?" Grace asked, excitement evident in her tone as she gripped James’ arm and playfully bumped shoulders as they made their way down a overgrown path. He had apparated them here with a smile and a wink and had refused to say anything while they were still at the house so she hoped he be a little less tight-lipped now.

"To meet Voldemort." James answered with a grin her way.

That...wasn't what she was expecting to be honest. "Huh. I'm trying not to be judgemental, but I have to say that that's the worst date ever." Grace told him, excitement all but gone now.

James huffed out an aggravated breath. "This isn't our date, this is me making sure that you're safe when you go back to Hogwarts."

"Then why did you tell me it was a date? I dressed up!" Grace demanded, gesturing at her clothes as she glared at him.

"Taking you out on a date was easier than telling the entire Order that I was taking you to the enemy so that we could come to a peaceful resolution about your part in the war." James pointed out before kissing her lightly on the lips and tugging her along again when she stopped to express her indignation.

"Don't try and be logical about this, I'm mad at you!" She stated, feeling more than a little put out that they weren't actually going somewhere and just spending time alone together and away from everyone.

James turned to her in confusion. "About dressing up?"

"About putting in effort that's now going to waste on a human/snake science experiment gone wrong." Grace snorted as she rolled her eyes.

"I could have chosen anyone else." James lamented sadly as he looked towards the clear blue sky.

"There's still time." She said, patting his arm consolingly as she followed his gaze.

"They would have been nice to me."

"You know, the sky looks kind of dark."

"They'd listen when I would tell them things."

"Should I have brought a raincoat?"

"We would have a perfectly normal life."

"I think I should have brought a raincoat."

"Instead I get you."

"It's ok, I know you love me even though you drive me up the wall." Grace smiled kindly as she tugged him along the path when he started to trail a little behind her.

"Me?!" James asked, his voice going up an octave or two in outrage.

Grace nodded wisely. "Constantly. It's a wonder I'm even here."

"Hang on a minute now!" He protested.

"You're just lucky I tolerate you." She added with a considering tone.

"Tolerate me? Tolerate me! I'll tolerate you." He spluttered back.

Grace frowned. "What? How does that even make sense?"

"You make sense!" James retorted in a huff.

Grace rocked on her heels and smirked at him. "I do. All the time. It's a talent." James sighed loudly and he dragged a hand down his face. "A little nervous, are we?" Grace joked, finding it ironic that he should be nervous when his life wasn’t on the line.

"Lovely, make fun of the man trying to help you." James said as he threw up his arms in helpless distress.

"Fine, fine. I'll play nice." Grace acquiesced as she held up her hands in a surrendering motion.

"Thank you." James said sincerely, knowing she was trying despite her knee jerk reaction to run the other way.

"While we wait for-"

"Don't say it." James warned.

"-_him_, do you mind continuing our conversation about dark magic?"

"Which conversation was that, darling?"

"The one where you aren't worried about the Black Courting stipulation because you were already using dark magic in battle."

James sighed deeply as he took her hand in his. "I wouldn't have put it quite like that. What is your question?"

"You don't really see using dark magic as a problem, do you?" Grace asked in interest.

James hummed as he gathered his thoughts. "Not in the way you are trying to say, no. I believe I touched on this a little in an earlier conversation, but I do not see magic in the same parameters as the rest of the world."

"Remind me?" Grace prompted.

"The divide we put on magic today isn't exactly true in the base sense of magic. Magic, at its core, simply exists. We, as the wielders of said magic, choose how to use it."

Grace frowned. "But we _are_ magic, we don't choose anything because it's who we are."

"Same point, different view. The point is that magic doesn't exist in shades. There's no such thing a 'good' magic or 'evil' magic because it's all simply the same magic."

"So what you're saying is that you using 'dark' magic isn't a problem because you don't see it as dark magic?"

James inclined his head. "Essentially. Am I aware of what type of spells I use to protect myself and those around me? Very much so. When I last used it, we were in the middle of a war. If you tried to unarm a Death Eater while he was trying to kill you, well. Let's just say one of you wouldn't be waking up in the morning and it probably wouldn’t be you."

"I mean, logically I understood that, but..." Grace trailed off.

"I don't think anyone truly understands the position we were in unless they were in it with us. The history books I've read seemed to gloss over the lives the 'winning side' took during our attempt to save the world we knew."

"Meaning what?"

"Neither side had clean hands by the end. War doesn't have good or bad sides; there are only those dead and those alive. You cannot have pride in war if you intend to survive."

Grace hesitated. "Are you telling me you killed people?"

"I'm telling you that everyone of the 'old crowd' killed someone. Remus, Snape, Dedalus, Minerva. You don't walk away from war with a clean conscience darling."

"I...I never really thought about it, not really, not like that."

"If you want to, we can always pick this up later. Give you some time to think it over." James offered. "For now, let's focus on ending the threat to your life."

Grace nodded. "Yeah, alright. So why here?" She asked, looking around the open field far away from anything that looked like even remotely like civilization.

"For starters, we needed a neutral place where we wouldn't be interrupted by just anyone passing by. Secondly, this was the easiest place to lay down the peace wards."

Grace turned to James with a questioning look. "Peace wards?"

"Specially designed wards that do not allow violence during negotiations." James explained.

Grace narrowed her eyes. "And what happens if there is violence?"

"A backlash of power." James stated simply. "If you attacked Voldemort, then the power you put into the spell, along with the power of the wards, would be thrown back at you since you broke the promise you made when you entered."

"What promise?" Grace asked alarmed, wondering what exactly he was doing.

"The promise of peace. Essentially you walk into a peace ward with the intention to settle a disagreement of any sort and you promise to cause no harm."

"So when you do cause harm, you break the basis of the ward." Grace finished with a nod of understanding, her slight panic calming at the information.

"Exactly."

"But you can still get curse happy then?"

James frowned at her as he guided her towards a specific spot in the clearing. "I wish you would trust me that you're safe."

"I wish you listen to me when I tell you he's a power hungry psycho that wants me dead at his feet as he lords my death over everyone fighting on my side."

James looked pained. "Yes, he can technically still curse you, but the effects of going against the wards are such that only an idiot would try it." Grace raised her eyebrows and James sighed in response. "Yes, alright, he may be an idiot, but he won't try and curse you."

"Alright." Grace finally relented even though she didn't believe for a second that Voldemort wouldn't try anything. "Tell me more about the negotiations." She said instead.

"It's all very simple really. You both sit down and state what you would like the outcome to be and then negotiate something that both parties can actually agree with."

"Is there an in between for life and death? Coma? Ghost? Not dead, but not alive?" Grace joked.

She would have said more but at that moment she had felt something ripple against her skin as she took another step. She gasped in surprise as she walked into a large circle that was surrounded by thin, spider-like golden threads that created a dome. In the very centre there was a table and four chairs waiting for them. "This is it?" She guessed as she turned to James.

"This is it. Parchment and quills are ready for us, now all we need is-ah." James motioned with a slight nod. "Here they are now."

Grace watched as Voldemort and an unknown man walked towards them, daylight making Voldemort's distorted features even more grotesque.

"For future reference," Grace said softly as they walked towards the table, "I'd rather not like him joining us on our future dates."

"Not a date!" James mumbled back in exasperation before turning to their 'guests' once they all met, the table Grace had seen set firmly between both parties. "Lord Voldemort, Rastaban Lestrange, Grace Potter. We are here today to negotiate the terms for Grace Potter's exit of the current war. Are we all agreed?"

"We are." Voldemort stated in a sibilant voice that sent chills up Grace's spine.

Before this moment Grace had always figure this to be one of the things that James would hammer on about until she either won the war or was murdered. Now that Voldemort was in front of her, the reality of her actions was hitting her with such a force that she was starting to feel physically ill. By doing this, she was essentially betraying everyone that she loved and everyone that had put their hope in her.

Not that his second for the negotiations, Rastaban Lestrange, looked any better. He looked as gaunt and haunted as Sirius had when they had first met, a little worse if she was being truthful. His left eye was twitching as both eyes darted around constantly, his hands repeated clenched, and he had a general air of unkemptness about him. Most of all, he felt dangerous in a wild and unpredictable way and Grace didn't appreciate his presence in the slightest.

She knew the snake man could have asked Lucius to their negotiations but he chose the brother of the man who's wife murdered Sirius and she knew exactly why he did it. James may have thought he was relatively sane, but Grace knew better and this little act of vindictiveness was just another giant red flag waving obnoxiously in her face.

"Let's begin then." James said as he divided the parchment and quills between Grace and Voldemort.

The next few hours were some of Grace's longest, and that included all the times she spent at the Dursley's over the years. Whatever she said, Voldemort nixed almost immediately and in return whatever he proposed, she shot down. To be fair, his demands were rather insane (because what do you expect from the man who's tried to kill her six times now) and she would never give in to 'joining the Dark Lord as an admission of his power'. No. Not ever. As much as she didn't like it though, something had to give and slowly, ever so slowly, they managed to agree to at least some of the many demands. Although ‘agree’ might have been a bit of a strong term considering whom she was trying to negotiate with.

On top of that, neither her nor Voldemort’s tempers were exactly long. Grace was usually someone who could keep her mouth shut when she was pressed to (thanks uncle Vernon) but that trait seemed to slip away from her when Voldemort was involved.

Voldemort, on the other hand, had never been someone she considered sane and the addition of the Lestrange brother was causing him to become more and more antagonistic as the hours crawled by. Both men were beyond paranoid and seemed to find no reason necessary to escalate things in a heartbeat.

For all that James wanted her here and created a relationship for that purpose with Voldemort for her safety, the man was becoming more and more infuriating. On the one hand she perfectly understood his actions, but on the other she wanted to ring his neck. Every time things got even a little heated, he put his hand on either her arm or her leg and gave her a pointed warning look. The longer these ‘negotiations’ went on, the more she wanted to snap his restraining hand in two.

She wasn’t someone that liked to be controlled in any shape, way, or form, and the fact that James was not only doing exactly that, but also doing it in front of the very person looking to kill her? She wasn’t under James’ power and resented the implication that she was.

"You will agree to never harm my person." Voldemort stated, a sharp look in his eyes as he glared at her. She grit her teeth and swallowed the bile crawling up her throat, the betrayal of her actions stinging the back of her throat. She gave him a sharp nod. "The words, girl." Voldemort hissed at her.

"I will agree to never harm your person, if you do not attack my person." Grace stated, not completely willing to give up on the thought of making this monster pay for everything he had put her through, despite her willingness to leave the war behind her.

Rodolphus bared his teeth as his wild eyes bored into her. "That's not what he said."

"And that's what you're getting. This is a peace negotiation; I'm not here to serve you the war on a gold plate. You take, _you give_." Grace snarled back, gripping the arms of her chair tightly so she wouldn't go for her wand.

Voldemort didn’t seem to care what her answer was since he barrelled on to the next topic almost seamlessly. "You will agree to never oppose me."

That was the big one. In return for her life, she would step aside and let him do whatever the hell he wanted to their world. Did she have a choice now? Yes, but at the same time no. For once in her life she wanted to be selfish and choose herself. She wanted to stand in front of all those wizards and witches and tell them that she had given enough and now it was up to them to stand up for themselves and stand up against the monster who where intent on murdering them all.

She also knew she couldn’t do that, not to the memory of her parents (the one she still clung to despite knowing the truth) and not to the people that loved her and willingly stood by her side as she stood in front of their worst nightmare. On top of that, she couldn’t just agree because if this mad man did finish the war and she agreed to this stipulation, it meant she could never oppose him on anything. Which would, objectively, be a problem for her in the political circles.

"I will agree to never oppose you while you wage your war." She amended, knowing that once again the topic would be brushed aside.

Lestrange twitched at her adjustment but said nothing this time, even as he bared his rotten teeth at her and snapped his jaw. Lovely.

"You will agree to never fight me." Voldemort continued on, once again ignoring her as she predicted.

"In what circumstances?" Grace asked with narrowed eyes, wondering what the point of all of this was if he wasn’t interested in peace negotiations at all.

"In any circumstance." If he had any sort of normal human expression, Grace was sure he would have rolled his eyes at her.

"That's not something I can guarantee and you know it." She stated, her anger now bleeding through her tone. James moved to put his hand on her thigh and she batted it away, a fierce look in his direction. She was getting very tired of this game and she wanted out.

"We shall come back to this particular point later then." James interjected before either Voldemort or Lestrange could comment on it. Grace refused to acknowledge him as she stared Voldemort down who was smirking at her, his blood red eyes glaring at her with such ferocity she wondered why he hadn’t brandished his wand yet.

"Sure we will.” Grace snorted. “Time won't be changing my answer."

"We shall see." Voldemort state almost pleasantly. "You will agree to never enter the political sphere."

Grace was already shaking her head before he finished speaking. "I can't do that. I have House obligations that I can't ignore."

"Are you threatening the Dark Lord?" Lestrange growled at her.

"What are you talking about? I'm telling you I'm House bound to certain obligations. I can't ignore them." Grace replied as she rolled her eyes.

"_LIAR!_" Lestrange screamed, eyes wild as he swung his wand in her face, seemingly having come to the end of his rope, which probably wasn't all that long to being with.

"Rastaban, be calm. She doesn't know what she's saying." James warned softly, as he put a restraining hand on Grace.

"I know exactly what I'm saying." Grace countered angrily, shaking off the hand James had put on her arm.

"So will oppose me?" Voldemort declared, his lipless mouth gaping open to show his odd shaped teeth.

Grace tried not to roll her eyes even as she tried not to recoil in disgust. Was he being dense on purpose? "I will follow the rules set to me by my House. If you are against those rules then yes, I will."

"You would go against Lord Voldemort?" Lestrange scream-yelled, still standing and pointing a wand at her chest.

She had no idea if the peace wards would save her life, but she also didn’t know if Lestrange would actually follow up on the threat so she wasn’t sure how she was supposed to react to his actions.

"I'm trying to tell you that I can't ignore my obligations to my House, are you deaf? Is this how you intend to rule? Ignoring simple statements?" Grace taunted, discreetly grabbing for her own wand.

"Don't insult your Lord!"

"He's not my Lord!"

Lestrange laughed in such a maniacal way that Grace was strongly reminded of Bellatrix. "Mind your tongue before I rip it out of you and do it for you." He declared eagerly as he leaned towards her.

"I'd like to see you try, you overgrown muggle." Grace cussed at him, knowing that Purebloods hated muggles enough for it to be an insult.

With a snarl filled with rage, Lestrange brandished his wand and sent a silver spell Grace's way. Grace had no time to evade it and watched in dread as it hit her. Only, it didn't hit her. She watched in awe as Lestrange was blasted across the clearing and slammed into the ground, knocking the man out cold. James had stood up the moment the spell had been thrown and had pulled out his own wand.

"This is what you consider peaceful negotiations?" He asked Voldemort irately.

Voldemort hissed at him and between one blink and another had shot two spells Grace's way. This time she was faster on her feet and managed to evade one of them, but the second one managed a hit. She felt a fire burning through her upper arm as she hit the floor and rolled towards the table and out of Voldemort’s sight as she took stock of her injury. There was a deep cut on her arm that not only hurt like hell but was also bleeding profusely. She hoped it was nothing more than a cutting curse, but knowing Voldemort it could have been anything.

An infuriated scream wrenched through the air and she jumped up, wanting to be on her feet and ready for anything instead of lying on the floor and vulnerable. Instead, she caught a glimpse of Voldemort flying away from them before James was in her view and grabbing her around the waist and pulling her in close.

Seeing an opening, James grabbed Grace and apparated them away, stealing Grace's breath and making her nauseous in the process. She wasn't sure if it was because she was unprepared for the trip or because she was hurt and bleeding, but it was one of the worst transport experiences so far and it took a great deal of effort not to throw up.

As soon as they hit ground again Grace ripped herself out of James' hold and forced some distance between them.

"Don't touch me." She said softly, threateningly, as he took a step towards her. "Don't you dare touch me."

"I didn't know." He replied tersely. "I thought he'd bring someone who would level him out, not make him more insane."

"I don't care what you thought because despite my better judgement, this is exactly what I knew would happen and for some insane reason I still let myself be talked into this. It's Voldemort, you should have known this was a possibility."

"Nobody could have foreseen this outcome." He disagreed, his voice tight.

Grace clenched her bloodied fist as she took a deep breath. "I'm not trying to blame you for his actions, but I am going to be angry at yours. You keep pushing me to do things like this without taking my knowledge and advice into account. The last few times haven't mattered because there weren't any costs, but today it could have been me. It could have been you. And you just don't care unless it benefits you."

"Grace..." James uttered softly, reaching out his hand for hers.

"No." She said as she raised her hands and backed away from him. "No." She shook her head. "This is big-this is-I'm going to need space."

"We need to talk about this." He implored even as he took a step towards her.

"If we talk about this right now I don't think I'll be able to be rational enough to leave you in one piece, let alone let you continue to Court me. Don't push me James." Grace warned.

He clenched his teeth but nodded and took a step back. "Alright." He stated as softly as he could manage. "Alright."

She watched him warily for a few seconds and then started backing away from him slowly before she turned around and walked into the house. She didn't register the sound of apparition over the rushing in her ears.

Tonight he had broken a trust she hadn't realised she had given him.

\---******---

James watched Grace enter Grimmauld Place with an impotent helplessness that only fuelled his anger. There was nothing he could do to salvage what he had just lost, not right now anyway. He knew that if everything had gone to plan that Grace wouldn't have doubted him but bad had gone to worse before he could blink and everything had devolved from there. That crazy upstart Lord had decided to take all of his hard work and tear it to pieces. He had jeopardized his relationship with Grace. And for what? Well, he knew for what. Dumbledore. Voldemort. Two players who were both intent on using Grace as a quaffle between them. He needed to know where it went wrong. He needed to know why the mad bastard had decided to double cross him.

As soon as Grace was safely behind the Black wards, he apparated away.

"You half-blood bastard! Where are you?" James screamed as soon as he had apparated into the manor.

"What on earth-" Lucius thundered, almost running into the room but stopping short at the wild looking man in his home. "James?"

James knew what he looked liked, knew he was holding on to his rage and magic by a hair and that the slightest provocation would have him losing control.

"I am not your servant, Potter." Voldemort spat out as he walked out of the room. Clearly he had been expecting James' arrival since he had stayed close to the apparition point in the manor.

"You've ruined everything." He seethed, glaring at Voldemort.

Voldemort opened his arms wide, wand appearing in one of his hands as James' angry magic filled the room. "I did nothing. She is an insolent child who needs to learn her place."

"And what is her place?" James demanded, wand gripped tightly as he faced the very reason everything had gone wrong so badly.

"Beneath me. This is my kingdom and I will be her Lord, she must be taught by any means necessary to insure that the lesson... sinks in." The man hissed in dark delight, a goading look on his deformed face.

“I will flay you alive." James promised darkly, teeth bared in challenge seconds before he flicked his wand and threw a spell at Voldemort.

"I will rip you apart, muscle by muscle." Voldemort returned as he swept his wand, causing James' spell to deflect away from his person. "_I am Lord Voldemort! You dare defy me?!_" He demanded as he shot a curse at James.

"You have cost me everything, you deformed twig!" James screamed as he twirled to the left, sweeping his wand and firing two consecutive spells as he dodged Voldemort’s malicious looking blood red curse.

"This is my home!" Lucius yelled at them in panic as he watched them destroy their surroundings as they danced around each other, the curses hitting the walls and heirlooms that had been passed down from father to son for centuries bursting into pieces without a care. "Contain yourselves!" He demanded shrilly, looking on in horror as the marble floors were split by the sheer power coursing malevolently through the room.

Voldemort hissed violently, a snake coiling and ready to strike. "I am your Lord!" He intoned, ignoring Lucius' cries as he put more power into his next curse. James ducked out of the way and felt the force of the spell even as he jammed his wand toward Voldemort and threw his power into the next curse. An angry scream filled the dust filled air between them as Voldemort brought up a shield strong enough to stop the curse. "This is not a game. I will win. I will defeat all those who stand against me." Voldemort declared as he flicked his wand and made the small pieces surrounding them to shoot towards James.

James snarled as he swung his wand in a downward motion, vanishing the pieces and in the same breath throwing up the dust in the room and sweeping it Voldemort's way.

"You are a power hungry monster who has delusions of grandeur!" James countered, dancing away from a dark yellow light sent his way despite the hazy look of the room through the dust.

His anger only grew with each missed hit, forcing him to put more and more power into each curse. The more power he used, the darker the curses, throwing everything he knew and had at the man who dared take what was his.

"You wound me." Voldemort hissed, feigning hurt as he hurtled a sickly green spell in James' direction.

He ducked in time to avoid it and felt something slice his bicep. He snarled at a triumphant looking Voldemort before sliding across the floor and whipping his wand, causing a wayward piece of wood to pierce through Voldemort's hand.

James grinned darkly at the howl of rage the man uttered before being forced to defend himself from the onslaught of curses. "If I've lost Grace because of your careless actions, I assure you that the Order will be the least of your worries."

"If you lose her, you have only yourself to blame." Voldemort retorted before sending a high-powered _bombarda_ at the ceiling above James.

James dove out of the way, not in time to protect himself from the debris, but in time to not be buried under the rubble.

"Enough!" Lucius screamed.

Using the power of his House in his ancestral home he forced them to a standstill, drained their wild magic from the room and prohibited them from continuing their fight. They watched each other with dangerous eyes, neither making a move towards peace and prevented from continuing their fight, only their breathing could be heard as the room fell silent.

"I'll put you in the grave for this." James promised lowly, fire spitting from his eyes even after he caught his breath.

Voldemort sneered at him. "This world will be mine. I would advise you to choose your side wisely."

"There is no side." James told him as he gripped his wand tighter. "There is only your death." He stated before apparating away.

\---******---

James watched with gritted teeth as Grace shared a smile with the new McKinnon Lord as they both shifted awkwardly under the strain of their trunks as they made their way towards the train. His offer of help had already been denied and Grace's step back and wary look cut him to the quick. He hadn't planned for this, had never seen this coming and was now at a loss at how he was supposed to fix it. He didn't know how he was supposed to make it up to her and now she was getting on a train and disappearing from his life for the next four months. He has no idea of their standing and his only source of solace is the fact that Grace was required to meet him once a week for their Courtship dates.

After he came back last night, after getting a quick check-up at St. Mungo's in case he was hit with anything that could come back to bite him later, he had tried once more to talk to Grace but she was unwilling to even open the door, not even after he begged to check on her injury. She hadn't wanted to speak with him then, but seemed willing enough to allow it now as she came back from stowing her trunk on the train.

"How is your arm?” He asked softly, a nod towards the injury as she stopped in front of him.

"Oh." Grace mumbled, her hand coming up to rub at the spot in question. "Fine now, thanks. I got some of the house-elves to look me over. It wasn't anything serious so I'm thankful for that. They said it was probably because of the peace wards and I was lucky that this was the extent of it."

"I'm grateful that it wasn't serious." James told her with a small smile. "I will miss you."

"It's four months." Grace replied with a shrug, not meeting his eyes. "Not that long."

James longed to reach out and touch her but she had already proven she wasn't open to any gestures or touches, at least those that came from him.

"Time away from you is always too long." He said instead, controlling himself through the sheer will of not to create more problems between them.

"Right." Grace said, shifting in discomfort and looking away from him.

"Grace-" James tried, hoping to get something more out of her, some kind of signal that his hope was not in vain, that he wouldn’t have to take divergent measures to keep her by his side.

"Listen." Grace cut him off. "We're about to head out so I should probably get back on the train."

James nodded despite wanting to argue with her. "Of course. I'll owl you." He relented.

Grace gave him a short nod. "Fine. I'll, uh, see if I have the time to answer."

James narrowed his eyes. "We will have to talk about this. This won't just go away."

"I know that, but this fucking time you get to stand there and take what I'm giving you." Grace hissed at him, anger on every line of her face. "I need time to think this through, I need some fucking time to figure out what the hell happened yesterday and you hounding me every second of the day isn't going to help me. _Back. Off_."

James clenched his teeth in response to her anger and gave her a short nod in return, opting not to say anything in case it made their situation worse. He watched as she hugged the Weasley's goodbye, watched her clutch Remus close and give him a peck on the cheek before she practically stormed towards the train. He waited and watched for her as the train finally let out its warning signal and children rushed towards the doors, last minute tears and hugs given out before there were cries of farewell heard all along the train. He didn't see Grace. He didn't see her as the train pulled out of the station, didn't see her as the children retreated into their compartments, didn't see her as the train disappeared into the distance.

He has no idea how to fix this, has no idea where he stand with her now. The only thing he's certain of is that if he has lost her, he will move heaven and earth to get her back. He would give her a few weeks to settle the disaster in her mind. After that, if she was still leaning away from him, he would do whatever needed to make sure she stayed with him.

\---******---

It shouldn't have surprised Remus, the lengths James would go through to keep Grace, but it had. _It had surprised him_. It had surprised him because James had opened his arms to Remus and had been so willing to share her that he figured the boy he had known had grown up. It had surprised him because it had been years since he had been James’ friend in any capacity. It had surprised him because he grew up and he had expected James to have grown with him despite knowing he hadn’t. It had surprised him because James never gave him cause for concern.

He should have known better.

But he hadn't. He hadn’t remembered any of it. He remembered now, remembered and remembered _and remembered_ until James was seared into his brain and all he did these days was watch the man who had been one of his closet friends, who had been a brother. James had taken Grace from him. He had taken Grace away from him in such an underhanded and conniving way that he almost wanted to laugh about it all. Laugh and laugh and laugh until he was choking on it and wishing he could cry instead.

Now all he had was his growing list of suspicions. Suspicions that grew with each passing day, suspicions that exploded when Grace came back yesterday bleeding and upset, but refusing to answer any questions. When Grace pulled away from him in one day when before she was free with her affections. When she told him that James had manoeuvred her into an exclusive contract despite telling Remus he wanted them to share.

He watched them both closely as they left for Platform 9¾. Watched their interactions like they were prey, watched how Grace shook her head and how James stepped back. Watched how they barely said their goodbyes and how James clenched his fists so hard he broke skin.

It was Grace.

It was James.

It always came back to James.

Whatever was changing, whatever had sent his instincts spiralling out of control, James was at the centre of it and now he was going to find out what it was. Something had set him off, something had screamed at him that he was in danger, something had set his wolf hunting and he was finally going to get to the bottom of it because now he had a name and a face to those feelings.

It was time to confront James about what the man had been doing.

\---******---

She had craved him as a truth on her skin.

She had wanted him with a desire that burned her blood.

She had longed for him with a heart too full for words and a tongue empty of them.

She had needed him; a needing and wanting of what he was giving her with such ferocity that it scared her.

Until he turned on her. Until he ripped need from her bones, doused her blood, and smothered her want.

She fell to the ground, the water running from her form. The darkness that had surrounded her paused, wary.

He had broken a trust.

The darkness shied away from the light, too bright, too painful, too much.

Rage built in her stomach.

Anger sharpened its teeth.

Cold spread through her veins.

He had broken a bond.

The earth rippled beneath her legs, moved under her hands, shuddered through the world.

_She had been betrayed._

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little shorter because I had problems with getting this one where I wanted it to go for the next chapter. It didn't exactly help that my motivation decided to take a break so I kind of had to fight with myself to finish this one so I'm sorry if it reads horrible because of that. On the plus side, I’m thinking the next chapter is going to be nice and long so yay!  
Fun side story: I totally forgot about Remus (despite my plans for him, oops) until lovelylady241 (lovelylady243) reminded me and I was all like 'Remus!' so a big thank you for helping my brain out!


	10. Mr Bigstar, Who Do You Think You Are?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder that I'm playing fast and loose with canon here, so you know, nothing is the same except the things that are. With things I gloss over I imagine the same as the book, so I won't bother with those.  
No beta, mistakes will attack the senses.

"James, we need to have a conversation." Remus stated firmly as soon as they got back from the station, lifting his eyebrows as he held the door open to the study. "Now."

"Is this really necessary Remus? I'm not in the best of moods." James retorted, a frown on his face as he loosened his robes.

"It can't wait."

"Well?" James asked, throwing his arms wide in an impatient gesture as soon as he walked into the room. "What is it?"

"I know what you've done." Remus growled lowly, eyes flashing gold as he shut the door behind them.

"And what is it that I've done?"

"It's Grace, it's always been about Grace."

"Fantastic, more cryptic bullshit." James uttered with a tired hum as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's not cryptic. I watched her, you know. Grace. I saw what you were doing to her, how you lured her in. I missed it at first, missed the little misdirection, missed how easily you got her where you wanted her, but I see it now."

"Well, this is all terribly inconvenient." James sighed.

Remus barked out a laugh. "Same old James, always about how it inconveniences you. How did you do it?"

"Do what?" James bit out.

"How did you get me to agree? How did you get me to turn a blind eye to the fact that you're playing both sides? You murdered a ministry employee James, murdered and I did nothing. I didn't tell a single soul, didn't inform Albus of your betrayal. Told no one that your interest in Grace isn't paternal or of my suspicions. Told no one of your dealings with You-Know-Who."

"How should I know why you didn't say something? You're reasons are your own, just as your actions are."

"But they're not, are they?"

"Because you don't want them to be or because the reality of your actions have suddenly caused you to purchase a temporary bout of conscience?" James asked slyly.

"Neither. I grew up with you James and I've always known exactly who you are. I also know who I've become outside of your influence. I grew up."

"Congratulations. Would an award help your pathetic need for recognition?"

"I grew up." Remus re-iterated loudly. "Your games are of the past, they have no place in this world. You know nothing of life here, flittering from one amusement to the next. How long before you lose interest in Grace like you did Lily? How long before You-Know-Who isn't fun anymore? How long until Albus gets in your way?"

"Well, I must say, this is a surprise. I hadn't really thought of you as a nuisance before now, but you're proving to be quite resilient."

"So you're confessing."

"Confessing? Not at all! Frankly Moony, you haven't got the faintest idea what's going on. And I have to admit, fixing this to my liking would be a lot easier if I knew when you started to doubt my sincerity, but I suppose having everything is just wishful thinking."

"Having everything of what?"

"Can I tell you a secret?"

"Don't you have enough of those yet?"

"All of this," James said as he waved his arm in a half circle to emphasis his point, "is just a means to an end."

"So you're using Grace as well as committing high treason."

"High treason? Honestly Moony, come back to reality. We don't bend our knees to kings and queens. I'm not using Grace, I've never used her and I will never plan to use her. Not in the sense you're thinking of." He added with a wink. "Grace is special, has always been special and she has always been mine. I claimed her from the moment she was born and she will be mine until the day she dies."

"You're insane." Remus stated, horror washing over his features.

"Am I? That's rich coming from the man who houses a literal beast."

"I have no control over that." Remus grit out.

"So you say." James hummed out.

"What are you planning James?"

"Back to this, are we?" James said as he shook his head in disappointment.

"It can't just be about Grace, that was never enough for you when we were younger. There has to be something else, some other angle that you're playing."

"Does it? I'm not in Hogwarts anymore Remus, and as I recall, the last time we saw each other neither were you."

"I'll figure it out." Remus warned.

"Of course you will." James sighed, suddenly tired. "Any reason you haven't gone rushing to Albus over your suspicions yet?"

"I wasn't sure I was right." Remus stated, eyeing James carefully.

"And I just proved you right, is that it?"

"Something like that." Remus nodded.

"Lesson one, and probably the only one you really need to remember: always tell someone your suspicions."

Remus squinted his eyes as he watched James. "Excuse me?"

"Even if you think you're wrong because you might be put in a position like this with no recourse."

"What are you talking about now?" Remus asked as he slowly reached for his wand.

James rolled his eyes and didn't bother replying, it wasn't worth the effort and Remus might still be useful in the future. Pointing his wand at a visibly shocked Remus he lazily uttered the last words Remus would never remember of their conversation.

"_Obliviate_."

\---******---

"So what was that about?" Hermione asked once Grace had plopped down in their compartment.

"What was what about?" Grace asked, distracted as she watched the scenery fly by them.

Hermione gave her a look. "You and James."

"Me and James what?" Grace asked, her tone taking on a dangerous edge.

"If you don't want to talk about it just say so." Hermione huffed.

"Great." Grace nodded. "I don't want to talk about it."

"But there's something going on between you two!"

"And now I have to tell you? You do realize I don't have to share every feeling I've ever had with you right?"

"I never said that." Hermione replied, clearly affronted.

"No, you just want to know what's wrong so you know all the good gossip."

"I'm trying to help!"

"You're being nosy is what you're doing."

"Bad time?" Ginny asked from the doorway as she looked from one girl to the other.

"No." "Yes!"

"Lovely." She stated as she turned right back around and walked away.

"Ginny!" Hermione called out.

"Nope. Not dealing with your shit, there are plenty of other drama free compartments out there to visit." Ginny called back.

"That's a good point." Grace nodded as she stood up. "I'm going to find some of the Quidditch team now, see how their summers went."

"You can't just leave!" Hermione spluttered out, clearly a little offended.

"Sure I can. It's very easy, watch." Grace replied easily as she strode towards the door.

"Yeah? Well, I have a prefects meeting to get to, so I'll leave!" Hermione said as she pushed Grace aside in an effort to get out of the compartment before Grace. Grace pushed her right back and darted out before Hermione could retaliate.

"I'm already gone!" Grace crowed in victory.

"So am I!" Hermione stated as she stumbled through the door and headed Grace’s way.

"Fine!"

"Good!"

"Great!"

Grace stuck out her tongue and entered a random compartment so she could get away from her argument with Hermione. It wasn't exactly like they could avoid each other, going the same way and all. She glared at Hermione when she passed by and huffed when the other girl refused to look her way. She turned around and came face to face with a full compartment of seventh years, all of whom where looking at her in some state of curiosity and bafflement. She coughed out a weak laugh before rushing out and getting as far away as possible. She wandered up the train a bit until she spotted Katie in a compartment with a few other students she vaguely knew by sight. Cheered by the notion of having a conversation with people who didn’t really care for her emotional state, she gently tapped on the glass of the door before walking in.

"Grace! I was wondering if I'd see you! Congratulations are in order then." Katie cheered as soon as she caught sight of Grace and motioned her to sit down.

"They are?" Grace asked in surprise as she greeted the three other girls

"Yeah, you've been named captain haven't you?" Katie asked, a hint of confusion in her tone.

"No?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you both asking each other that? Shouldn't you know?" Leanne asked, watching them with amusement.

"I do know, I'm just wondering why she doesn't know." Katie replied, sending a questioning look Grace’s way.

"I haven't heard a thing yet! I figured you'd get it since you were on the team longer."

Katie laughed, mirth dancing in her eyes. "Circe no! I told McGonagall last year that I didn't want it. N.E.W.T. year and whatnot, far too much pressure. I have no idea how Oliver managed it, but I'm not about to give it a go when I know you'd be better at it than I would."

"So how do you know I've gotten it then?"

"McGonagall told me didn't she. Plus, I'm nosy and I wanted to know who'd be my captain in my last year." Katie said with a laugh before the rest of the compartment joined in.

"Captain!" Grace uttered on a bewildered sigh, smiling happily at the thought.

She understood why McGonagall hadn't mentioned it, what with James appearing in her life and the subsequent chaos that came around everything that James touched. On the other hand, she could have just as easily put it in the school letters, so she wasn't quite sure she had the position in her pocket just yet. Maybe McGonagall was still weighing her options?

"Don't get too comfortable, you'll have to build up the team again." Katie warned.

"Oh shite, that's right!" Grace moaned. "And we've gone and lost the best beaters! Recon I can get them back? They haven't really left have they?"

"I think the twins are doing something much better than Quidditch." Mary said on a laugh, one of the few people in Gryffindor who was willing (besides Hermione) to express the notion that there were more important things out there than Quidditch to Quidditch fanatics.

"What kind of Gryffindor supporters are you lot? And you! Call yourself part of the team?" Grace asked in faux indignation.

Katie laughed. "Well I'm not am I?"

"What? Of course you are."

"You'll have to have try-outs and someone out there is bound to be better than me. Don't go short sighted on us, we need the best team possible and that means with or without me."

"Try-outs?" Grace moaned. "Can't you do them for me? I mean, I am your captain now."

"Youngest seeker alive can't figure out how to decide on the best way to get through try-outs?" Katie asked, laughing at Grace's forlorn expression.

"Keep that up and I'll be worse than Oliver!" Grace threatened with a mock-scowl. Nobody could be worse than Oliver. The bloke had tried to drown himself in a _shower_, for Merlin's sake.

"Not possible." Katie replied airily. "I doubt anyone could out-Oliver Oliver. Besides, you really shouldn't put me on the team yet without checking all the new blood out there."

"Maybe, but you've got the experience that I'll need."

"No reason to keep me on."

"You know, I'm starting to wonder if you're not trying to talk me out of putting you back on the team."

"N.E.W.T. year, remember? I'd love to stay but I wouldn't mind the extra time to study." Katie said, clearly at ease with either fate.

Their conversation stayed light after that, Grace enjoying the easy ambiance and not worrying about having to delve into anything deeper than how her summer had been or how she thought the rest of the year would turn out. Compared to the last few weeks, it was a breath of fresh air and she began to relax and enjoy her time. Until an out of breath third year entered their compartment with a note for Grace and effectively killed her good mood.

"What's that?" She asked wearily as the third year handed over a note.

"For you!" The third year replied, far too happily for Grace's liking.

"Well, what is it?" Mary asked, leaning over Leanne to see the note.

"An invitation to eat lunch in compartment C." Grace answered, a little bewildered.

"We have a compartment C?" Leanne asked confused.

"Lunch? Why don't we get lunch?" Mary demanded outraged.

"How fancy!" Katie said on a laugh as Grace handed over the note for their perusal.

"Compartment C is usually for the teachers." Katie answered Leanne before turning back to Grace. "Who's it from then?"

"Professor H.E.F. Slughorn." Leanne answered after taking the note off Katie.

Katie frowned. "The new Potions Professor? What does he want with you?"

"Dunno.” Grace shrugged. “Guess I'm about to find out."

"You're going?" Leanne asked, clearly a little horrified.

"Shouldn't I?"

"It's a bit improper, isn't it?"

"She's not alone." The third year piped up. "I had to hand out a few others as well."

"There you go then. It's just lunch anyway." Grace said with a shrug before standing up and giving the girls a small wave before heading towards compartment C.

Honestly, she didn't even know they had letters, let alone special ones set-aside specifically for teachers. Why wouldn't Remus have been sitting in it in third year if there were? Maybe they had to reserve it specifically for teachers? Unless of course it was used for meetings like the Prefect ones and usually stayed empty after that.

As she walked she noticed quite a few people look at her with a certain amount of awe. It made her increasingly irritated and uncomfortable since the reason they were staring was the very reason she lost Sirius. While the pain his loss had caused eased after all the personal revelations, it hadn't lessened the guilt she carried around. She was still responsible for leading him to his death and if this had been last year, knowing what she knew now, she'd take the frustration of people ridiculing her any day. She didn't want their awe; she didn't need their recognition of her telling the truth and it hurt more than she was willing to admit how selfish her thoughts had been.

A figure darting into a compartment ahead caught her attention and when she passed the one in question she glanced in and saw Cho Chang having an intense conversation with the girl Hermione had hexed last year. The words across her forehead were still visible despite the obvious layers of make-up and Grace couldn't help the smirk that formed on her lips seeing them, the smirk deepening when both girls turned towards her and glared at her passing figure.

She may not have wanted Cedric or his attentions, but that hadn't stopped him from wanting her and stringing Cho along, something she still hadn't forgiven her for. The cow. Honestly, if she was going to blame anyone, she should have blamed Cedric for being a fickle arse.

When she got to the compartment in question she peeked around the door to see what she was walking into. There were two unknown girls, Zabini in her year from Slytherin, Neville, Ginny, a bloke she'd never met, the next Lockhart: McLaggen, and finally Malfoy. An odd assortment of people with no rhyme or reason why they had been put together as far as she could tell.

"Ah! And here she is! Our very own Grace Potter!" Slughorn announced when he spotted Grace lingering outside the compartment, still undecided if she should turn away or not.

"I regret everything." Grace mumbled miserably as Slughorn gestured her inside and leaving her no choice but to go in.

"Fooled again by the lure of a good meal, eh?" Ginny asked with a laugh as soon as Grace was close enough.

"Curiosity mostly, but also the food. What are you doing here?" Grace asked Ginny as quietly as she could as the others started to mingle slightly, obviously feeling as awkward as she was.

"He caught me hexing a bloke who asked me if you and Ron had gotten together. Seemed rather impressed by it and the food's bound to be better than the trolley. Win-win."

"Ew! Why would anyone think I'd be into Ron?" Grace asked, scrunching up her nose in disgust at the mere thought of being with Ron.

Ginny snorted. "The same reason you thought he was in love with Hermione? Because it made sense."

"Well, thanks for hexing him. What about you Neville?" Grace asked, turning to look at Neville who had shifted over to them.

"Got an invitation. Don't know why, really." Neville replied nervously. "I'm not that special."

"Of course you are." Grace said firmly. "You're amazing."

Neville smiled and nodded. "Thanks Grace."

Grace nodded her head in Malfoy's direction. "So is that why Malfoy's here? He got an invitation too?"

Ginny smirked at her before glancing briefly at Malfoy. "Nope. He popped up with Zabini and then sprouted a lot of utter shite to stay here. Slughorn was too polite to get rid of him but it's been obvious that he doesn't want him around."

"Potter. Good to see you." Malfoy stated just as Ginny finished, sliding in smoothly next to Grace and sneering at Ginny while ignoring Neville altogether.

"Malfoy. You're here." Grace sighed dejectedly while Neville took a step away from him and Ginny mimed something particularly rude in his direction.

"Heir Malfoy!" A girl interrupted, standing as close to Malfoy as possible without being too rude. "No Heir Parkinson?"

"Hey, yeah, weren't you supposed to be at the Prefects meeting or something?" Grace asked, thinking back to last year’s disaster. Merlin she was happy Umbridge was dead.

"We had our meeting." Malfoy replied to Grace, ignoring the other girl and looking put out at her attention. "Just a meet and greet of who the new Prefects are and the new Head boy and Head girl. Just the usual introductions and rules."

"So how did you wind up here?" Grace needled with an innocent smile, never being able to resist where Malfoy was concerned.

"Ah! Mingling already? Marvellous, marvellous!” Slughorn interrupted before Malfoy could come up with some kind of snotty reply. “Come now, let's sit. I remember the trolley back in my days but my poor figure simply can't handle the treats anymore. No, no, a strict diet is what's needed for a healthy body! And you do know what they say, 'healthy body, healthy mind'!" He chuckled as he patted his fairly large belly.

Grace gave him a polite smile and had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing as she watched Ginny mime throwing up behind Slughorn. Neville just looked bemused and Malfoy was now on Slughorn's other side trying to get away from his very interested but highly unwanted paramour. All things considered, this was not how she envisioned her afternoon going.

Frankly, after Slughorn's introduction of the other people in the compartment (which she promptly forgot because she really wasn't all that interested to begin with) and then a mild grilling of what happened at the Ministry last year, Grace zoned out. Where she enjoyed the morning with Katie and her friends, this had just become tedious. The food wasn't bad but the company left something to be desired and Slughorn clearly enjoyed being the centre of attention and pulling all of their strings. He was clearly after something and Grace (knowing her history with new teachers) decided it was best to appease him as much as possible until he inevitably tried to harm her.

Katie had said he was the new Potions professor, but he could just as well be the new Defence professor. Although, if she was right and he was here for Potions, then who got the Defence position? Surely not Snape? On the other hand, that would solve a great many things for Grace so she kind of started to hope Snape did get the position so she wouldn't have to deal with him in her final year.

"I heard from a little birdie that you were already under a Courting contract." Slughorn stated slyly, exaggerating a wink in her direction as she jolted back into the conversation.

Grace flushed a horrible red and shrunk into her seat, unnerved by all the looks she was suddenly getting. "Er, yeah. I mean, I am."

"Lovely! Simply lovely!" Slughorn announced, passing around some pasties that managed to skip Malfoy, who looked like he had sucked on a lime.

"You've got a Courting contract?" One of the girls asked snidely.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Grace huffed out annoyed.

"Didn't say anything to offend." The girl responded, an innocent look on her face that Grace didn't believe for a second.

"Didn't need to say the words when your tone did all the talking for you." Ginny jumped in, taking a long noisy slurp of her water.

"I was just wondering, is all. Who's the lucky bloke?"

Grace lifted her eyebrows. "Why? Afraid it might be Malfoy?"

"Don't be ridiculous, he's contracted with Parkinson."

Grace felt a smile widening on her face. "Is he?" She asked mischievously.

"Don't bring me into this, Potter. I've got nothing to do with it." Malfoy drawled lazily.

"Wait." The other unfamiliar girl stated as she turned to look at Malfoy with blatant hope rising in her eyes. "Does that mean you're not currently in any contracts?"

Malfoy shot her a deadly glare. "My father is handling the matter."

"But you're currently free to accept new offers?" The girl pressed, leaning forwards.

"I don't see how that's at all relevant to our discussion." Malfoy replied frostily, shifting his deadly glare to Grace who couldn't hide her giggles any longer.

"That means 'yes' in Malfoy." Grace said between giggles. The other girl looked positively delighted by the news and Malfoy managed to somehow deepen his death glare.

"Wonderful! Such an exciting time, Courting! Why, I remember my very first attempt!"

"First attempt? What, like it didn't work?" Belby asked, not noticing the slanted looked he got from Slughorn.

"Indeed." Slughorn said, a little colder. "Never mind that, never mind! We have something much more thrilling happening right before our very eyes! Tell us, young Malfoy, what are you looking for in a future spouse?"

****

"Well, that was interesting." Neville chuckled as he followed her back to her compartment after Slughorn finally let them go. Ginny maintained she needed to sit somewhere without as much drama as Grace and Hermione brought out, so they parted ways with a rolling of the eyes.

"That's one way of putting it." Grace snorted in humour. "Where are you sitting?"

"Oh, with Luna." Neville stated. "I told her I'd try and find you and, well, I did find you in the end."

"Funny way of finding someone." Grace joked.

"It would have been easier if Slughorn hadn't invited me to whatever just happened."

"I think we all would have liked it better if Slughorn hadn't noticed any of us."

"Not notice The-Girl-Who-Lived?" Neville joked just as they reached their destination.

"Oh, back are you? Spend enough time with you Quidditch group did you?" Hermione stated snippily before Grace could reply.

"Team, Hermione. It's a team." They stared hard at each other before Grace sighed deeply and flicked her eyes to her trunk before frowning heavily. "Look, I won't say sorry because I'm not, but I suppose I could have handled it better than I did."

"I probably shouldn't have pushed the way I did either." Hermione admitted ruefully. "So I will say sorry because I actually am. Sorry." She said sincerely as Grace looked at her. They both broke out into smiles and Grace plopped herself next to her best friend and bumped her shoulder.

"Look who I found." Grace said as Neville followed her in.

"Neville!" Hermione said rather loudly, a faint rising of colour smattering her face. "I didn't see you there."

"Well, I dropped by for two reasons really. I know it's not really any of my business so you don't have to answer at all or you can tell me to bugger off, I'd completely understand. Actually, I think I might be overstepping a little and I'm uncomfortable even bringing this up, but if it was me I'd like to know so I'd like to tell you."

"I might tell you to bugger off if you don't get to the point Neville." Grace said lightly even as she frowned.

Neville blushed scarlet and cleared his throat. "Of course, of course. It's Ron."

Grace groaned loudly as she dropped her face into her waiting hands. "Has this got something to do with what Ginny mentioned earlier? Do I even want to know?" She asked, her voice muffled by her hands.

"Probably." Neville said. "But also probably not. He's, eh, been going up and down the train."

"Right." Hermione nodded encouragingly when Neville trailed off.

"Telling all the blokes that you're, um, off limits, so to speak."

"Off. Limits." Grace said slowly, lifting her head just a little to peak out at Neville.

"Well, this is going to be an awkward year." Hermione mumbled.

"Off. Limits? What exactly has he been saying?"

"I'd actually rather not tell you." Neville replied nervously, his eyes darting towards the door.

"I'd rather you tell me before I hear it from anyone else." At Neville's continued nervousness she decided to sooth his worries. "I'll leave you out of my murder schemes if that helps any."

"Murder schemes?" Neville spluttered. "No, that really does nothing to help me."

"Indulge me." Grace insisted.

"Well, he's been heavily implying that you two are well on your way to a Courting contract and that any interference would be considered..." Neville trailed off as he saw the look on Grace's face.

"I. Will. _Murder_. Him." She hissed out between clenched teeth.

"It's not like we shouldn't have seen this coming." Hermione said as soothingly as possible.

"How dare he? _How dare he?!_"

Neville winced. "Bad then, I assume?"

"She's already in a Courting contract." Hermione informed Neville, who grimaced at the news.

Grace wasn’t sure if the Weasley’s just weren’t interested in Courting and everything that came with it or they genuinely didn’t know, but it seemed like Ron was deliberately making problems for her. It may not have seemed particularly harmful, but what he was doing was two-fold. The first was spreading a falsehood that could very well compromise her, and the second was sowing seeds of doubt in Courtship. If James was any other man and these rumours had reached his ears, he would have either assumed she was playing with his feelings or that she intended to ‘play the field’. In both cases her reputation would have been in ruins and a new Courtship would have been difficult to find. Right now, the only thing that was stopping her from killing Ron on the spot was that most people didn’t seem to believe him. According to what Hermione had said to her earlier that summer, Ron had been trying this for at least a year and people weren’t likely to believe him anymore. Hopefully at least.

"Oh. That is bad. Want me to go around to the right people and tell them the truth?" Neville offered.

Hermione flicked her eyes at a seething Grace. "Probably for the best. It's a bit too early in the year for murder."

Neville chuckled nervously as he glanced at Grace. "What was the other thing?" Hermione asked in an attempt to distract him from Grace’s dark glower.

"The other thing?" He questioned nervously.

"You said you had two things to discuss?"

"Oh right. The other thing was your Courting request." Both Hermione and Neville blushed furiously and somehow found the ceiling to be particularly interesting.

"Oh that." Hermione laughed awkwardly. "Erm, yes. All set on that front. Courting someone else. Terribly sorry about that."

"No, no, no, it's me that should be sorry! I didn't realize you feel, I mean to say, felt that way about me."

"No of course not, I just, it's that-we're just such good friends you see."

"That's not to say I didn't have feelings for you."

"I completely understand-wait what? 'Have feelings'? As in, gone now?"

Neville cleared his throat. "Well, yes. I didn't think I had any hope, you see. Not with the things going on in your life at the moment and what with Ron."

"Ron?" Hermione echoed confused.

"Your feelings." Neville re-iterated.

"For Ron?" Hermione questioned surprised.

"Well...yes?"

"I don't. Have feelings for him. Well, I mean, I do, but it's mostly anger and exasperation."

"Oh." Neville said quietly as silence slowly filled the room. Grace looked out the window, her eyes desperately trying to find something interesting so she wouldn’t have to be in the middle of all this awkwardness.

"So...so you had feelings?" Hermione asked hesitatingly.

"I gave them up last year. I didn't think you'd ever-so I thought it was best to just move on, you know." Neville said with a helpless shrug.

"Oh. Right."

"But I guess, you did?"

"I, um, yes. I do. Did. I hoped."

"I'm sorry."

Hermione was shaking her head even before he finished speaking. "Nothing to be sorry about. I should have said something."

"I suppose I should have as well. Look at us, Gryffindors." He chuckled weakly.

"So. So you wouldn't have accepted? Even if I hadn't found anyone else?"

Neville looked down. "I did. Deny the request, I mean. I'm, em, already in a Courtship you see."

"Oh." Hermione said uncomfortably. "May I ask with who? Is that allowed? If you'd rather not say, that's fine too. Perfectly fine. Don't feel like you have to answer that anyway, I'm just being nosy I suppose."

"Hannah Abbot." Neville interjected before she could continue to ramble.

"Oh! She's lovely." Hermione said softly, giving Neville a small smile. "Congratulations. Are you happy?"

"Thank you, yes, very happy. And you? Did you find someone?"

"Em, Krum, actually."

"Victor Krum? The seeker?" Neville asked, looking a little flabbergasted.

"One and the same. It's quite a long story, obviously, but the McKinnon’s had a few contracts open and theirs suited me best."

Neville nodded. "I can see it. You were quite close in fourth year. " He said with a small nod. "I should also congratulate you on your new House, Lord McKinnon.” He added with a genuine smile."

"Thank you. It was quite the shock actually." Hermione said, ignoring Grace's incredulous snort at the understatement.

"I should probably go." Neville said after a short discomfited silence. "Spread the word about Ron and all, and I should find Luna again to tell her I've found you lot. Say," he started as he turned to Grace with a small frown, "who is Courting you?"

Grace sighed deeply. "Trust me Neville, you don't want to know."

"Is it bad?"

"Not in the sense you're thinking. More a case of the unbelievable. And," she added with a stern look his way, "not something I can divulge just yet. Not without a conversation at least." She amended with a thoughtful look.

"Sorry." Neville said sheepishly.

"Nothing to be sorry about, I'm not hiding anything from you it's just...complicated. We'll see you later again? With Luna?"

"I'll come back." Neville stated with a smile before giving them both a small wave and leaving the compartment, closing the door as he left.

"Do you suppose James was wrong?" Hermione mused some time after Neville had left.

"Wrong about what?"

"Neville and getting the 'talk'."

"Hm. Maybe, but his situation is completely different isn't it? He's been in an informal contract for some time now and just made it formal this past summer. He may have gotten the 'talk' but it would have been useless because he was already doing the 'Pureblood thing'."

"I suppose you're right." Hermione agreed with a listless sigh.

"Why are you asking?" Grace prodded when Hermione didn’t expand.

"I think I didn't want him to be right." She replied softly.

"Who would? Did you even get his rejection?"

"Hm? No, I didn't. It's actually something I was wondering about."

"Lost mail?" Grace suggested.

"Like what? The owl got lost?" Hermione chuckled at the thought.

"It's got to happen some time, hasn't it? Besides, what's the alternative here?"

Hermione shrugged carelessly. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, at least you get to keep your friendship now, if nothing else." Grace consoled her, patting her arm.

Hermione looked faintly amused at Grace’s hand. "Yes. That's something."

"But?"

"I'll get over it eventually, but I think I'll always wonder what-if."

"Well that's not healthy." Grace declared.

Hermione bumped her shoulder against Grace's. "I know that. Once Viktor and I start our Courtship dates and it becomes real I think this feeling will fade."

"Because your what-if doesn't stand up to the real thing?"

"Because I fell for Viktor once and one of the only things that stood in our way was the distance."

"_One_ of them?" Grace asked sceptically thinking of fourth year.

"Well alright, the age wasn't the most appropriate if you must know." Hermione huffed out with a knowing look Grace's way as Grace dissolved into giggles.

\---******---

It had been three days since the start of term and Grace could honestly say that this was the most relaxed she'd been in ages. It was stupid to think, even stupider to say, but she had forgotten that she was still only a child. Sure, a teenager-like child that had grown up far too quickly and was basically an adult except for her physical age, but a child nonetheless. Everything that had happened to her this past summer had made her feel years older than she had already felt before it all happened. Voldemort? James? Dumbledore? She could fill a book with how the passing of years did nothing to age a person as much as their various experiences.

Getting back into the groove of classes and homework and worrying about simple things such as grades was, well, kind of a vacation. She was even looking forward to her animosity with Snape, since it signalled that her life was getting back on track. Was she thrilled that she now had to deal with him as her latest Defence teacher? No, but it was levelled out by being able to take potions (at all) with someone who wouldn't sneer at her every move. Baby steps. And besides all that, Snape would be gone by the end of the year, one way or another. He might be her father, but she rather hoped he'd get sacked.

“What's going on there? Grace asked, grabbing a roll and nodding in the direction of a seventh year boy and girl in a heated, but low, argument.

Hermione, who was busy chatting away with Fay Dunbar, looked over at Grace and then in the direction she was miming.

"Oh! Haven't you heard?" Hermione asked in hushed tones, leaning forward in an attempt to keep her voice down.

"Heard what?" Grace asked, mildly confused. To be fair, if it wasn't life threatening (in her direction in any case) she rarely noticed the going-on’s of other people.

"Well," Fay started, her eyes lighting up "it turns out that Gregory Munslow in Hufflepuff was courting Felicity Eastchurch in Ravenclaw all of last year and had promised her to formally start Courting her over the summer."

Hermione nodded along. "She's completely smitten with him but both of their parents are pretty strict that they can't do anything except hold hands until the end of the Courting period, if they even get that far. Only I heard that he tried to get a little more out of her, if you know what I mean."

Grace made a disgusted face as she eyed the boy who was Gregory Munslow. "What a git."

Fay nodded. "But it turns out that after she positively hexed him for doing it, he refused to Court her until she apologized. Hasn't sent her anything over the summer and deeply embarrassed her in front of her parents, all of them were expecting his contract. She was seething on the train, she couldn't wait to lay into him."

"Who?" Ginny asked, sliding in next to Grace.

"Felicity Eastchurch." The three of them answered him. She blinked in confusion before Grace pointed over her shoulder to the couple still fighting.

Ginny blinked again and then frowned. "What's with them then?"

"Turns out they were supposed to Court but she wanted to stick to the rules and he wanted something else." Grace said as she eyed the eggs. To egg or not to egg, she pondered.

"Why would he Court her when he's Courting Latisha Randle?" Ginny asked in confusion as she shovelled an alarming amount of bacon into her mouth. Catching Grace's bemused look she shrugged. "Ron always gets the bacon when we're at home. Soon enough I won't be able to stand the sight of it so I'm enjoying it while I can." She explained.

"What makes you say that?" Fay interrupted, now watching the couple wind down from their argument.

"Saw them on the train, didn't I?" Ginny answered, her mouth still full of bacon. Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust so Ginny opened her mouth wider in retaliation.

"Saw who on the train?" Fay asked, her eyes wandering from the couple (Munslow was now stroking Eastchurch's arms in an attempt to soothe her) to Ginny.

"Munslow and Randle. I had to go to the bathroom and they happened to be outside, and I heard him saying that he was glad that he had gotten the chance to officially Court her. Met her parents and everything." Ginny said, shrugging and biting into a roll.

Hermione, Fay, and Grace all gasped. Even Grace knew good gossip when it crossed her path and since it had absolutely nothing to do with her, she could revel it.

"He's Courting another girl? That arsehole!" Hermione said, outraged and glaring at Munslow.

"That poor girl!" Fay said, watching Eastchurch.

"Wonder who's going to tell her." Grace commented. All three of them looked at her. "What? Like you wouldn't want to know that the guy you were crazy about and told you he was going to formally Court you decided you weren't good enough for him after he tries to sully you moved on over the summer and fully intends to string you along so you don't get any other Courting requests and die a lonely old spinster?"

Ginny and Fay laughed but Hermione looked troubled. "We still have another year before anything turns official, but..." She hesitated. "Do you really think Eastchurch wouldn't get any other offers?"

Fay looked thoughtful. "I don't know. Technically speaking her parents could arrange a marriage for her, but that would most likely consist of a foreign wizard, which would mean she would not only leave her home but England as well. We're given the time and space here to figure out if we like anybody enough to apply for a formal Courtship. That's how most witches and wizards do it. But if Munslow spreads it around that he's fooling around with Eastchurch without a formal Courtship after the amount of time they've spent together...well, let's just say that any wizard worth his name would figure out that she's not worth the effort. Her name would be tainted and even if it was proven to be false later, the damage would have already been done." Fay explained, shrugging her shoulders.

"So, what you're saying is that he's trying to get his revenge on her because she told him no? He's going to ruin her entire future because she followed custom?" Hermione asked, horrified.

Fay grimaced and nodded. They all turned back to Munslow and Eastchurch, watched as they hugged and parted ways, a small silly smile on Eastchurch's face.

"Someone's got to tell her." Hermione said, echoing Grace's earlier statement. They all nodded.

Grace looked at her friends. "I'm not doing it." She said quickly.

"Neither am I." Ginny added quickly between bites.

Fay and Hermione looked at each other.

"I don't know any of her friends." Fay said quickly as she leaned back enough to raise both hands in surrender.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked over at the Ravenclaw table. "Lisa Turpin is a huge gossip; she'll make sure it spreads." Hermione said, standing up. "It also helps that she asked to copy my notes for History of Magic."

They all watched as she wandered over to the Ravenclaw table and sit next to Turpin. Padma, Lavender, and Neville wandered over while they were watching Turpin’s eyes narrow and widen at the well of information that Hermione was giving her.

"What's going on then?" Padma asked the table. Grace grunted and focused on her breakfast, Fay shushed her while trying to watch Hermione without looking like she was watching, and Ginny had just bitten into a sausage and wisely refused to talk.

"Turns out Munslow is formally Courting Randle." Ginny said eventually, having choked down her full mouth in an attempt to deliver the news.

"Why is that a problem?" Lavender asked, having just sat down and catching the end of Padma's question.

"Because Munslow promised Eastchurch to formally Court her over the summer but he tried to cop a feel before the end of the term and she hexed him for it, so he decided to formally Court Randle over the summer and is now stringing Eastchurch along." Grace told them as she glanced a look at Hermione. The girls sucked in their breaths as their eyes got bigger.

"So what's Hermione doing?" Padma asked, nodding over to where she was sitting with Turpin.

"Informing Turpin about the use of her History of Magic notes while subtly dropping hints that Randle and Munslow are Courting." Ginny informed them between bites.

Padma and Lavender nodded while Neville turned to look at Hermione and Turpin.

"Good turn too. Can you imagine? I wouldn't want to be him when this gets out." Lavender said, grabbing some fruit and pretending she wasn't about to go spill the news to everyone she met.

"Is no one wondering why the bloody hell Turpin needs Hermione's history notes after just two days of classes?" Neville asked, looking a mixture between bewildered and terrified. Five heads turned Neville's way to stare at him in astonishment.

"Trust Neville to ask the important questions." Ginny said after a few minutes of silent staring.

Grace nodded as they all looked back at Hermione and Turpin. Why _did_ she need those notes?

****

"For the last time, there's nothing in my notes that you need to see." Hermione huffed out angrily, her temper visibly fraying.

"See, you keep saying that-" Grace protested before Hermione cut her off.

"I've let you read them twice! _Enough_!"

"Then why did she need them?" Grace demanded.

Hermione made a strangled sound of frustration. "Because she pays me for them."

"What?" Grace asked, thoroughly taken aback.

"I take notes, she pays me. Every year I 'catch up' with her and we set down rates."

"You..._what?!_ How long have you been doing this?"

"I only do it for the people who need help, not lazy ones like you and Ron."

"Oi! There's no need for that!"

"There's all the need."

"You make them pay you!"

"My hard work should not be for free."

"Is that even allowed? Is this some kind of underground black market thing? Are you breaking Hogwarts rules?" Grace asked, narrowing her eyes in suppressed delight.

Hermione sighed deeply. "It's not against the rules. I checked. It's a little frowned upon but since they are technically study materials-"

"That people _pay _for."

"-it's not against the rules." Hermione finished sharply, almost growling as she glared at Grace.

"Fine, fine. I'll shut up."

"Better question: what are you doing about Snape?"

Grace rolled her eyes at the blatant changing of the subject. "Uh, nothing? Is there something I should be doing?"

"Seeing as he's your-"

"SSHHHHH!" Grace hissed as she flapped her hands in a shushing motion.

"-father."

"For fucks sake! Does the sanctity of 'sh' mean nothing to you?"

"Honestly, stop being so dramatic, it's not like anybody would take me seriously. Snape, your father!"

"Sure, just say it louder, I don't think the thestrals heard you! Grace hissed angrily."

"Dramatic." Hermione pointed out.

"I'm not doing anything about Snape and if you know what's good for you, neither will you."

"Why on earth would I want to get in the middle of that? I might be thrilled about how knowledgeable the man is but I can fully appreciate how much of a terrible person he is. I'd rather not be on the wrong end of his temper, thank you _very_ much."

"And that's why you keep asking about him being my _-ahem-_." Grace coughed, raising her eyebrows and giving Hermione a significant look.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Yes. That's so much better. Such stealth. Keep that up and people will think you're having an inappropriate relationship with him."

Grace scrunched up her nose. "Ew! I'd never!"

"Well of course not!"

"I meant even if he wasn't."

"No point in questioning that now, is there?"

"Hermione." Grace said tiredly. "Can I get through Potions first? Merlin knows I need all the help I can get. I don't even have a book yet!"

"You've had three days to get one!" Hermione uttered horrified.

"And I had three days to forget to get one!"

"You're impossible." Hermione huffed before dragging a mostly unwilling Grace to potions.

She was actually grateful that McGonagall had told her she was allowed to take potions but she hadn't gotten around to owl ordering any of her supplies yet so she wasn't really quite sure if she'd be allowed to participate until then. The thought of make-up work made her lament all the free time she was bound to loose because of it.

Thankfully there were only a handful of students who had signed up for N.E.W.T. Potions, four Slytherin’s, four Ravenclaw’s, one Hufflepuff, and three Gryffindors (which consisted of the two of them), which meant the room would be far less stuffed and Grace might actually be able to pay attention instead of watching the Slytherin’s like a hawk. Not to mention the class was now combined with all four houses so it felt less of a Slytherin versus Gryffindor than it usually did.

When they entered the room, Ron had already taken a seat at a table with Ernie Macmillan and two other Ravenclaw’s. Grace hadn't even realized Ron wanted to take potions so it took her aback to see him in the class. Not that she was particularly bad at potions (hello EE) but she hadn't realized Ron wasn't terrible either. If she was lucky she would be able to continue staying out of his way as often as possible. Mostly because she still wanted to punch him, but a little bit because his obsession with her was starting to turn her stomach. How many times was she supposed to reject him before he either got the bloody hint or before he turned into a danger?

She shook off her thoughts when she spotted Slughorn at the front of class and hurried her way over to him, leaving Hermione behind to get them a table with the remaining Ravenclaw’s.

"Professor Slughorn?"

"Ms. Potter! Delighted to see you in my class." He announced, his moustache quivering in happiness as he beamed at her.

"Er, right. Thanks. Only, I didn't know I would be allowed to take potions so I didn't manage to get any of my things yet." She said a little unsurely.

"Ah yes, a student just now had the exact same problem!" Slughorn told her before pointing towards the back of the room. "There are extra ones over there, choose one for now and place it back when your own copy arrives. Not to worry, today's lesson will simply be an introduction. I expect you to have everything necessary for the next class though." He added sternly, even as his eyes twinkled at her.

Grace eyed Ron with suspicion as he firmly looked away from her. Getting to the back of the room she huffed in annoyance at the only book there. She made a face but took the battered book back to her seat as Slughorn started their first lesson. The class itself was a typical first day back sort of class, going over the material for the rest of the year and what they should expect to be doing. The amount of work he outlined seemed particularly daunting and Grace wasn't put at ease even a little with the announcement that Slughorn would be giving them a mini-test during their next class. She supposed the jovial way he said it (and the wink at the end) were meant to be playful and a chance to prepare but Grace only slumped deeper into her seat and wondered if Potions was really all that necessary for her future. The only bright spot of the whole class was that Slughorn was still particularly sore about how Malfoy had pushed himself into the lunch get-together on the train and now seemed determined to ignore him whenever possible, leaving Malfoy a bit despondent and Grace a happy camper.

\---******---

A red howler was followed closely by all the students at breakfast the next morning. Howlers weren't exactly uncommon, but there were several juicy break-ups happening and certain groups had bets out on which ones broke up first. When it was dropped in front of Gregory Munslow several people frowned in confusion since it was widely known he was informally courting Eastchurch. Munslow himself seemed a little confused but opened the letter regardless since he’d have to, one way or another. A loud, booming voice filled the hall, screaming at Munslow.

"GREGORY MUNSLOW, YOU CHEATING SCUM! IF YOU THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT I WOULDN'T FIGURE OUT THAT YOU FORMALLY COURTED LATISHA RANDLE THIS SUMMER THEN YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING, YOU RAT BASTARD! I'VE ALREADY SENT MY PARENTS A LETTER AND JUST WAIT UNTIL THEY GET IN TOUCH WITH YOURS! I HOPE YOU HAVE A LONG MISERABLE LIFE, YOU LOW LIFE FLOBBERWORM!"

The whole hall gasped in horror. Randle looked ready to spit fire.

"Is this true?" She asked him furiously.

"No! She's just jealous that I turned her down!" Munslow stated, trying for a plausible cover story.

"She is not!" A girl said, jumping up from her seat, three seats down from where the couple was sitting. It was so quiet in the great hall you could hear a pin drop. "You promised her you'd Court her formally this past summer! Only you didn't, did you?" More gasps followed this statement.

"Tell me you didn't!" Randle said, standing up and looking down at him.

"She didn't know the meaning of the word no! I had to tell her something!" Munslow defended himself quickly, trying to appease his new love interest.

"There's protocol in place for unwanted attention in an informal Courtship! There were dozens of ways to tell her! Are you really telling me that your only solution was to string her along?" Randle asked in disbelief.

"No." Eastchurch said, striding into the great hall. Sheesh, Grace thought to herself as the students gasped again, this was better than those soaps Aunt Petunia watched!

"He told me his parents refused to let him go into a formal Courtship until seventh year and asked that I wait for him. He promised himself to me and begged me to decline other offers in favour of his. He said he would offer for me."

"That's not possible. I've been in a formal Courtship with him since this past summer. I've met his parents!"

Shocked gasps and murmurs filled the room as everyone stared at the unfolding drama. "No!" "That scum!" "How did he think he'd get away with is?" "Poor bastard."

"Huh." Grace said as she watched the drama unfold. "Should we really be this invested in other relationships?"

"What are you talking about? That was beautiful!" Hermione crowed out happily as the three individuals suddenly decided to take their drama somewhere a little more private.

Grace snorted. "More like you had a bet on them."

"And I won!" Hermione uttered gleefully.

"How much money did you bet?" Ginny asked curiously as she slid in next to Grace.

"Enough to start my very own modest library if I don’t spend the whole lot on first editions or hard to find titles."

"Of course you would." Ginny mumbled unenthusiastically before turning to the girl beside her and ignoring the two in front of her.

"What kind of hard to find titles?" Grace questioned right before an owl dropped in front of her plate. Considering the various activities she had going on beyond Hogwarts walls, she wasn't as surprised as previous years that she'd actually received mail.

"Who's that from?" Hermione asked after Grace had opened the letter.

"James.” Grace said through gritted teeth, crushing the letter in her hands and glaring at the world around her. "A reminder that per my Courting contract I have to meet with him once a week."

"Oh." Hermione uttered, trying to neutral. "Don't you want to go?"

"I'm, uh, we're sort of still in a fight."

"When is James ever not in a fight with someone? What did he do?" Grace shrugged. "That bad huh? Well, not like you can avoid it if it's written in the contract. You'll just have to go and hope you don't murder him."

Grace huffed out a laugh. "Thanks, really helpful advice. Try not to kill the bloke you're ready to murder."

"What? It's good advice!" Hermione defended with a grin. "And if it's in the contract you agreed to it so you can't back out now just because you're angry. Just be angry at his real face instead of his imaginary one."

"No use in imagining if I have to go. I'll need you to chaperone us." Grace informed Hermione with a nod, a glum look on her face at the prospect of having to go at all while she was still angry with him.

Hermione's face lit up in surprise. "What? Why?"

"Um, because that's how it's done?"

"What's done?" Ginny asked as she tuned into the conversation again.

"Courtship dates." Grace informed her as she pulled the plate of scrambled eggs her way.

"You're going on Courtship dates? When did that happen?" Ginny demanded looking confused.

Grace raised her eyebrows in surprise. "This summer? I mean, you were there."

"Not if I didn't know about it! Why doesn't anyone ever tell me anything important!"

"Hardly that important." Grace said dismissively.

"'Hardly that important'." Ginny mocked. "Of course it's important you twat! You're one step away from marriage and you didn't think to tell me?! Did you know?" She asked as she turned accusing eyes Hermione's way.

"Yes? To be fair," Hermione hastened to add after seeing Ginny's hurt expression, "once you find out who it is, you'll understand the secrecy."

"Which only works if I know who it is." Ginny pointed out.

"Well I'm definitely not about to tell you now, or here." Grace interjected with a pointed look around the packed Great Hall.

"Why am I being a chaperone for you then?" Hermione asked seeing as Ginny had started to pout.

"Because only people close to the person in question can chaperone them."

"Does that mean you can be a chaperone for me? When I start my Courtship with Viktor, I mean."

"Er, no, actually. It's got to be a family member and since your parents are still alive, they have to chaperone you. Or maybe his parents could do it since I'm not sure how your parents would be able to get to Hogsmede. Actually, no, I'm wrong. It's got to be your parents since they have your best interests at heart and his family might not and that would make quite the mess." Grace finished before turning to look at Hermione. "Hermione?! Are you all right? Why are you crying?"

"You...you think of me as fam-fam-family?" Hermione hiccupped out, tears making her eyes sparkle as she gazed at Grace.

Grace turned panicked eyes to Ginny who merely shrugged in response. "Em, yes? I mean, wasn't that obvious?"

Hermione wailed and threw herself at Grace, pulling her into a surprisingly strong embrace and sobbing manically on her shoulder. "I love you too!"

"Ah." Ginny said with a big smile and laughter in her voice as she took a sip of her pumpkin juice. "If only Skeeter were around for this!"

"Thanks." Grace deadpanned with a glare, awkwardly patting Hermione on the head and wondering if she could get away with finishing her breakfast as Hermione continued to sob away. "Em, Hermione? Should we maybe get to class?" Grace asked, hoping to get Hermione to calm down.

"Class?" Hermione sniffed as she straightened up.

"Defence?" Grace asked, hoping the crying part was over now.

"Oh." She sniffed. "Right. Yes, let's go. We can come back to this topic later, because I have a few questions for you."

Grace sighed softly in relief knowing that whatever Hermione would say was better than her sobbing all over Grace.

**

"Sir? Sir? _Sir?!"_

"Calm down, it wasn't that bad." Grace tried, hoping in vain that Hermione’s anger would simmer down.

"It. Was. That. Bad. Have you no sense of..of..of _being discrete_?" Hermione fumbled angrily.

"Says the woman who practically yelled that he was my father."

"That's hardly the same thing! "

"He tried to hex me Hermione! You were right there! What was I supposed to do, let him?"

Truthfully, she wished Defence Against the Dark Arts would have been in any way as easy as potions had been, but with Snape that was probably never going to happen. Despite knowing how Snape could be, Grace had had some vague hope that perhaps he would look at her and _see_ her. She knew it was wishful thinking and that James showing up as he had only added to Snape's vicious temper that he had no problem throwing Grace's way whenever possible, but hope was the worst feeling ever to exist and it had still snuck up on her.

She _hoped_ he would know. She _hoped_ there was some sort of magical feeling, magical knowing, of who your kin was. No such luck, and to top it all off, Snape was worse than usual and decided to take it out on her, which had prompted her to lash out in the same manner. Honestly, she was lucky she wasn't currently facing a year of detention.

"Ignore him!” Hermione urged. “This was only the first lesson, you can't keep going like this."

"I'll ignore him if he ignores me." Grace stated firmly.

"Grace." Hermione moaned. "Don't. This can only end badly and we both know it."

"_'We'_ don't know anything, _'we'_ are just trying to get through this year without being killed or murdering someone."

"Considering you just earned yourself a detention I think I might start planning your funeral."

"Oh ha bloody ha. You're hilarious."

"I'm practical. Something you ought to start trying to be if you intend to survive!" Hermione yelled shrilly before marching off to her next class.

"Bloody dramatic." Grace grumbled out, trying desperately to ignore the way her chest twinged in guilt.

\---******---

"I never did get around to telling you what happened in the Wizengamot, did I?" James asked as they settled into their seats in the Three Broomsticks.

"Does it matter what I say?" Grace asked as she averted her eyes and snapped out her napkin angrily before laying it across her lap.

"You're still angry with me." James said on a sigh.

"It's been a week, what did you expect from me? Besides, I'm not sure it's anger anymore but there's plenty of resentment."

James made an aggravated noise in the back of his throat. "I don't know how to fix this."

"Not my problem." Grace uttered almost carelessly.

"It is, actually." James said sharply. "Courting is a time where both parties are meant to be actively trying, which includes you."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I barely want to see you.” Grace hissed. “You broke my trust, James. It's not even the fact that you put me in wilful danger, you _broke_ my _trust_. Not to mention the stupid hand thing!"

"What hand thing?"

"You kept trying to restrain me? Remember that?"

"I wasn't trying to restrain you, I was cautioning you. I wanted it to go well and I just wanted to make sure neither of you flew off the handle." James sighed deeply.

"If I flew off the handle?! Thin ice, mate. Thin. Ice."

"We wouldn't even be having this conversation if it had gone well."

"But it didn't. It didn't go well and we both have to deal with the consequences. He's insane. He's always been insane and you expected him not to be because you told him to be sane."

"I'm not sure what I expected." James grumbled out as he took a sip of his drink.

"Maybe you were right, I am angry. I'm angry you never listen to me, I'm angry that you continuously brush off all of my warnings, and I'm angry that you don't respect me." Grace said in the ensuing silence.

"I do respect you." James objected.

"Actions speak louder than words."

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning you haven't shown me that."

"So I should show you?"

"You shouldn't _have_ to do anything!"

"I don't understand what you want from me!" James said in a raised tone.

"I don't either!" Grace yelled back. "I don't know what I want from you because I don't know if I want you at all!" The silence between them was deafening.

"I hadn't realized you felt..." James trailed off, clearly not willing to say the words.

"I don't think I did either, until I said it. You broke my trust James, and I don't know how you can get that back."

"Are you still open to me trying?"

"I...I think so. I don't know. I'm just so angry with you. Why didn't you just listen to me?" Grace asked helplessly.

"I just wanted the best for you. I wanted you safe." James stated quietly, a little less firmly than before.

The silence stretched around them until a chime sounded from within Grace's pocket.

"I have to go, I have a lesson with Professor Dumbledore." Grace said as she pulled out her wand and cancelled her timer charm.

James frowned heavily. "Albus?"

"That's what I said."

"Why is he giving you lessons? Are you the only one getting these lessons?"

"I don't think that's any of your business considering you’re supposed to be my future husband, not my father."

"Couples share things." James stated firmly, eyes boring into hers.

"This couple doesn't." Grace replied, lifting her eyebrows in challenge before she walked away.

"Grace!" James called out in frustration.

\---******---

"And lastly, it has happened. Voldemort has begun openly recruiting." Albus stated gravely.

"What do we do?" Molly asked fearfully, clutching Arthur's sleeve as she watched Albus in dread. Arthur patted Molly's hand absently as he thought back to the last few months. They had known this day was coming but they had hoped that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's continued silence had meant there would be more time to prepare. Then again, would they have ever been prepared for war?

"We need to act as swiftly as possible. Rubeus has already left to see to the giants, Emmeline has agreed to parlay with the Vampires. Remus, are you willing to head out to the werewolves?" Albus asked, turning steady eyes towards Remus.

Remus hesitated. "Most of the packs are under Fenrir's rule, you know this."

"Most, but not all. We'll need all the help we can get."

Remus nodded. "Of course Albus. I can't promise any results." He warned gravely.

"We would have no results if we didn't try at all." Albus reasoned gently.

"I'd like to see Grace before I leave, if possible."

"I can arrange it." Albus nodded in agreement. "We all have our assignments then. If there is nothing further, I say we end the meeting here. I shall keep you abreast of our next meeting.

Remus, if you could stay behind for a few moments longer?"

"Albus, a word if you will." Arthur stated as Albus rose from his seat. "It's about Grace." Arthur added in hushed tones as Remus indicated he would wait outside until they were done.

Albus frowned and waited until the room was cleared. "Is Grace in trouble?"

"I had wished that she would present the truth in her own time and at her own pace, but I fear secrets like these have no place during these difficult times." Arthur stated, huffing in agitation and wishing he were the type of man to ease his stress through movement.

"Is she in trouble?" Albus re-iterated, a touch more forceful than before.

"No, no, nothing of the sort. It's a rather difficult subject. Severus is her father." Arthur blurted out.

Albus sat back with a startled expression. "Severus? Our Severus?"

"I'm not explaining this well am I? During the summer I joined Grace in her foray to gather some of the letters from her gift vaults. Apparently the goblins finally got a hold of her and pressured her to start dealing with the overflow. While there we uncovered a few letters from Sirius. He wasn't in his right mind, but he indicated knowledge of Grace's real parentage. Grace was shocked but willing to get to the bottom of it."

"She confided in you?" Albus interjected sharply.

"She did. She wasn't too please with the results, as one can imagine. Severus is her biological father. What's more is that Lily approved a contract between her and James."

"James? Between James and Grace?" Albus asked, his voice steady and his face inscrutable.

"Indeed. They are currently in a rather serious Courtship." Arthur nodded in confirmation.

"She hasn't told me." Albus stated, a frown marring his features.

"I expect not. I rather got the sense she didn't want to tell anyone." Arthur said heavily.

"About James?"

"About Severus." He corrected.

Albus sighed. "I had thought that their animosity would have lessened over the years, but it seems stubbornness is a family trait."

"It's one of the reasons I thought it best to inform you." Arthur agreed. For all that she may have indicated through words, he rather got the sense that Grace would never admit to this particular truth.

"Yes of course. I shall take the necessary precautions." Albus stated as he stood up. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

"Thank you." Arthur sighed, deflating slightly as worry slid from his shoulders. He had made the right decision, telling Albus. He had promised Grace he would wait, but with the war heating up the way it was, secrets like these did more harm than help. This needed to be dealt with, one way or another. It was a matter of survival now, not wishes.

\---******---

"Grace."

"James."

"Is this how we're starting out again?" James sighed as he sat down across from Grace in what was quickly becoming their corner in the Three Broomsticks.

"Right, this was fun." Grace said getting up again. "See you next week."

"I didn't mean it like that!" James stated quickly, reaching out a hand to forestall her.

"Is there another way to mean it that doesn't make you sound like a dick?" Grace asked bluntly.

"That was uncalled for." Seeing her narrowed eyes he hastened to add, "On my part. It was uncalled for on my part. Please, don't go yet."

Grace sat down slowly, not quite sure if she wanted to stay yet but willing to see how it went.

"Did you receive my letter?" James questioned when it became clear that Grace didn’t intend to say anything.

"I did. I haven't had the opportunity to read it just yet."

"You haven't?" James asked, doubt heavy in his tone.

Grace narrowed her eyes. "I have more things going on in my life than just you."

"Of course, I never meant to imply otherwise."

Grace raised her eyebrows. "Didn't you?" She mumbled as she stared at him.

"What was that?"

"Why don't you tell me what you wrote me then. I assume it was important?"

"I'm not writing you just to divulge important information, I'm writing you because I love you and I miss you." James said, aiming for a gentle tone but missing the mark.

Grace snorted. "I'm sure."

"Now you're questioning my commitment?" He asked exasperatedly.

"I'm questioning how much I should be trusting anything you say to me."

"I never betrayed your trust."

"You physically restrained me during a peace negotiation. Not to mention that you never listen to me, never take my words into account on anything that revolves around, oh hello, me, and you put my life in danger."

"It was never about restraining you! It was a subtle reminder not to loose your temper like you're so prone to do." He stated angrily.

"Seriously? _I'm_ the one with the temper?"

"If you would have kept your snark, we wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Lovely. See you next week." Grace said as she stood up.

"Next week? We haven't even finished this week!"

"Bite me, dickwad."

"_Grace!_" James spluttered shocked and outraged.

****

"Are you even concentrating Potter, or are you just trying to look as constipated as possible?" Snape spit out, looking a mixture of hatred and triumph at Grace's poor non-verbal skills.

"Depends, do I look like you right now? Because then I'm-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll enjoy a month of detention. Or perhaps you're waiting for daddy dearest to swoop in and save you?" Snape interjected, hovering over her like a dark menace.

"Haven't you heard? He's dead. And even if he wasn't, I have no interest in my real father. He's a prat. Just like you, now that I think about it."

"Oh for- Grace!" Hermione hissed out in aggravation.

"Fifty points." Snape sneered at her. "And I believe you could do with another round of detention. Friday, eight o'clock." Snape declared with a sinister smile before dismissing the class.

"I heard from a little birdie that you got something special in your potions class yesterday." Ginny sing-songed as she came up behind them as they left the room.

"You heard about that?" Grace asked even as she watched an angry Hermione stomp ahead of them.

"How in Morganna's name did you expect that _not_ to get around? You've got literal luck!" Ginny exclaimed in surprise.

"For maybe an hour." Grace shrugged dismissively.

"In which you could come across some pretty amazing luck, which is the point." Ginny said with a pointed look.

"Maybe she should take it before a Defence lesson and stop herself from getting into it with Snape for once." Hermione snarked loudly enough that they could hear her even though she was at least five steps ahead of them.

"Again?" Ginny asked rhetorically, frowning at Grace.

"Seriously? Why is everyone on me about this?" Grace grumped out.

"Because you lose more house points in his class than most of us combined, and to be honest, in the past few weeks you've really been trying your best to lose as many points as possible." Ginny retorted with a frown.

"I said I'd try not to, didn't I?" Grace said defensively.

"Try harder." Both girls replied simultaneously.

****

"You're not even trying!" James said, grinding his teeth in aggravation.

"Why should I? It's not like you are!"

"I'm here every week. It's like pulling teeth from you! You make it seem like you don't even want to be here."

"Because I don't!"

James looked affronted. "Excuse me?"

"No! I won't! I don't! You haven't even _apologized_. Weeks on end and all I've gotten from you is explanations and lectures about how you were doing the right thing and it was necessary to ‘keep me safe’."

"Because it was! It is! You're the figurehead in this war, Grace." James pressed, unamused at her attitude.

"I don't give a-" her eyes darted around to the people within hearing distance, "a hoot! I've been a figurehead since I 'killed' snaketongue the first time around. This isn't about him, this isn't about my position in the war, this isn't about anything other than you and me and for some fucked up reason you keep forgetting that!"

"What are you talking about?" James uttered in frustration.

"I'm talking about the fact that you fucked up and you're refusing to admit it in any and all ways. _You fucked up_. You fucked up so much that I got hurt on your watch when you were meant to keep me safe."

"You said you didn't need me to keep you safe."

"And I don't, but for some reason you keep thinking that I do."

"You're not making any sense." James grumped out, frustration making him clench his fists.

"Let me simplify it for you then. You fucked up and you're putting the blame on me instead of taking responsibility for your own actions."

"I'm not blaming you!"

"So the way you yelled at me last time for not keeping my temper was you not blaming me?"

"Well you didn't! If you had-"

"Yes, I know, it would have all gone according to plan.” Grace repeated as she cut him off. “But you can't plan for Voldemort you idiot! It wasn't my fault."

"And it wasn't mine either."

"I wouldn't have been in that position if it wasn't for you."

"Are you blaming me then?"

"Sure looks that way doesn't it?"

"I'll see you next week then, shall I?" James uttered, pissed off as he threw his napkin on the table and got up.

"It's in the contracts, isn't it?" Grace snarked at his retreating back. James paused for half a second, curling his hands into fists before storming out of the Three Broomsticks.

****

"You stated last time that I never apologized." James started before she even sat down.

"I did." Grace said slowly, wondering what was coming.

"Neither did you." James stated with a decisive nod.

"What." Grace said as she plopped down heavily unto her chair.

"You didn't apologize either." James repeated, looking like he had won something.

"What?" Grace asked again, wondering if this was some type of twisted joke.

"The blame does not lay only on my shoulders, you bear a great deal as well."

"Is this happening? Someone please tell me I'm dreaming this whole thing and that I won't resort to violence in about three seconds because you're being an idiot!"

"See! This is what I mean! You continually blame me for everything that goes wrong without acknowledging your own part in this whole mess."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Grace asked dangerously.

"Meaning there were two people who walked down that path. Meaning you agreed to go with me, you agreed to the peace negotiations and you agreed it was the best course of actions. The peace wards did their jobs in keeping us safe and I got you out of there as fast as I could have without putting you in further danger."

"So you want me to apologize for not thanking you, is that it?"

James clenched his teeth before taking a deep breath. "No. That's not what I said. You made just as many mistakes as I did and it is utterly ridiculous that you are laying the blame sorely at my feet."

"So you'd like an acknowledgement of my participation in this mess." Grace clarified as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

James nodded. "Essentially."

"So you want to me tell you that I screwed up by listening to you. Alright. I'm sorry I listened to you, it won't ever happen again."

"That's not what I said!" James growled loudly.

"Isn't it?"

"I will wring your neck." He stated darkly, glaring at her.

"Lovely. This is how you speak to your future wife is it?"

"At the rate you're going you won't be my future anything."

Grace decided walking out was better than hitting the smug looking man in front of her.

****

"Non-verbal casting, Potter. Have we forgotten that already? Perhaps my predecessors overestimated your skills."

"Perhaps if you were actually a good teacher it would reflect in your students skills."

"Twenty points. Do you wish to continue that line of thought for more?"

Grace smiled sweetly. "No, she does not." Padma stated firmly as Grace was about to open her mouth.

"Hey!" Grace protested as she was firmly shoved away from Snape and across the room.

"Stop loosing us bloody points!"

"It's hardly my fault, he hates me!"

"It's a mutual hatred and it is your fault if you keep falling for it." Lavender said firmly as she shoved Grace towards Hermione just as Snape let them go for the day.

"Grace, I'm going to say this as nicely as possible." Hermione started as they packed up their things.

"So not nicely at all." Grace grumped, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"If you don't want him to know then stop giving him bloody ammunition!" Hermione almost yelled at her as she led them both out of the room.

"Meaning what?" Grace asked stubbornly, refusing to see the problem.

"People aren't as stupid as you generally think they are. You keep dropping him hints like that and eventually he'll figure it out."

"That's the great thing about Snape, Hermione. Even if he does figure it out, he'd never believe it was the real answer because he can't fathom a world where it might be true."

Hermione merely groaned in annoyance before stomping away to Ancient Ruins.

****

"I have to go." Grace announced, surprised neither one of them had walked away yet.

"Go? What do you mean go? We haven't even ordered dessert yet!" James demanded, dropping his fork in a surprisingly angry manner.

"That's longer than last week. I have a lesson with Professor Dumbledore."

James narrowed his eyes. "Another one?"

"That's usually how lessons go." Grace snarked. "There's more than one."

"With Albus." James stated.

"Yes."

"You have another lesson with Albus."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Grace stared at him for a moment. "Please don't tell me you're jealous of Professor Dumbledore, because I'm not sure how I should take that."

James huffed. "I'm not jealous of Albus, don't be ridiculous."

"But you don't like me seeing him."

"Why on earth should I have a problem with the figurehead of one side of the war having private lessons with you? I do ever so wonder." James asked sarcastically.

"Fantastic. Back to being a snarky git are we?"

"I'm simply having a problem with the fact that you seem to be spending an awful lot of private time with the Headmaster of your school."

"What are you trying to insinuate here James? That he's taking advantage of me?"

"Not in the least." James replied airily.

"Then it's got to be that he's being inappropriate with me because your wording left very little to the imagination."

James look disgusted. "Good Merlin no! Don't be vulgar, the man is ancient."

"And somehow the words came out of your mouth anyway."

"I would just like to know what exactly you're doing with the man that keeps pulling you away from me."

"That's really none of your business, now is it? I trust him, which is more than I can say for you right now." Grace said before turning around and leaving.

An infuriated garbled scream followed her out of the building.

**

"Grace?" Hermione called out from behind her.

"What?" Grace snapped out angrily as she stomped towards the castle.

"Could you maybe make your meetings not so bloody awkward?"

"What?" Grace asked, slowing down in her confusion.

"No offense, but being your chaperone is getting a little...unpleasant."

"Um." Grace blinked, having quite forgotten that Hermione had joined her in all of her dates over the past few months. Considering their conversations, 'unpleasant' was putting it mildly.

"All you two do is fight and as a third party observer who's supposed to be there to watch you two, it's getting a little ridiculous. You need to start dealing with whatever happened instead of picking a fight with him every week." Hermione said, laying it out.

"That's not-" Grace started, blushing hotly under her friends pointed look.

"That's exactly what you're doing and you know it. He's doing it too, just to even things out." Hermione added with a huff as Grace glared at her. "Honestly, I have no idea how you two have managed to get along because you're like oil and water."

"So you're saying I should forget about it all." Grace said glumly, her anger quickly draining away to nothing.

"I don't have any idea what _'it'_ is." Hermione reminded her sternly. "I'm telling you that you two aren't working anything out other than getting the chance to yell at each other each week. Look, the holidays are coming up soon and you two can fight all day long every day if that's what you like."

Grace sighed deeply. "But you have a better idea?"

"I'd rather not spend my holidays listening to more of this." Hermione said as she waved her hand in the general direction of the Three Broomsticks.

"Weren't you going to meet the Krum’s over the holidays?" Grace asked, vaguely remembering something of the sort.

"I still am, but that's only after Yule so I still get a week filled with passive-aggressive emotional bombs that you two like to throw at each other." Grace made a sound of tired frustration that still had a ring of anger in it. “You need to find a better way to communicate with him because this isn't getting you anywhere. Just think about it.” Hermione said gently as she patted Grace's shoulder before wandering away and leaving Grace to stew in her own thoughts.

**

If Hermione was being truthful (and she almost always was) then chaperoning Grace and James' dates was close to torture for her. Neither one of them wanted to budge or concede and neither one of them wanted to make things right. What they wanted to do was fight and Hermione was in the unpleasant position of having a front row seat. She wasn't even allowed to step in and guide them! Besides the fact that she had to keep her mouth shut, the whole ordeal was enough to give her a pounding headache. By now she knew the motions of their fights and privately played a 'who will storm off first' game based on how their arguments were going.

Needless to say, whenever they parted ways and Grace huffed off back to Hogwarts, Hermione used the excess time to wander around Hogsmede without the droves of students swarming around her. Not only did it help with her headaches, but it was also an immense pleasure to browse the stores without having someone with her moan and groan about how much time she was taking up doing something she liked instead of something they liked. Which of course meant that her first stop (and probably last stop as well) was the bookstore. She wasn't sure what she inherited from the McKinnon line just yet, but that didn't stop her from enjoying a relaxing activity after having to deal with the agony of being a chaperone.

She was halfway through the second shelf when she was interrupted by a sound from behind her that made her jump in fright, having not heard the person walk towards her.

"Remus!" She half yelled as she placed her hand over her racing heart when she recognized the familiar face. "Don't do that! I could have seriously injured you!" She scolded him.

He chuckled at her scolding as he came uncomfortably close to her. When he didn't say anything but kept looking at her, she shifted on her feet. "Something on your mind?" She inquired.

"I couldn't find Grace." He stated, eyes firmly on hers.

Hermione cleared her throat. "She went back to the castle. I'm sorry, I'm not sure where she went."

"That's alright. You might be better actually." He stated in a considering sort of tone.

"Me? Remus, are you all right? You seem..." Hermione trailed off helplessly. He was making her uncomfortable.

"I'm going away for a while." He stated, ignoring her words.

"Oh?"

"I'm not sure I will be able to write, you see. What with certain developments." He stressed, eyes darting down the deserted isle.

"And you wanted to tell Grace personally. I'm sure we can find her if we hurry." Hermione stated, already walking past Remus when his hand shot out and gripped her upper arm tightly.

"I think," he started slowly, "that I may be walking into a trap." He said, his eyes burning into hers when she turned to look at him in surprise at his actions.

"A tr...Remus! If you think this is a trap, why the bloody hell are you going?"

"I need to see if I'm right and I cannot simply ignore an order from Albus."

Hermione frowned as he kept staring at her. She was sure he was trying to convey something, she just didn't know what. "I understand the second part, but the first part is stupid. Think of what you'd do to Grace if you died!" She whispered harshly, both wanting to press the importance of Grace's mental well being and not wanting to alert anyone of their conversation.

Remus hummed. "I think," he said again, "that if my predictions are correct, this person intends to kill me in order to keep Grace for himself. To keep her isolated and alone. To keep her needing him." He stated slowly, tilting his head to show that what he was saying was important.

"What do you want from me?" Hermione asked softly, leaning closer and wondering why he didn't just say what he meant.

"I need to you tell Grace my of my suspicions if something happens to me as I suspect it might. I need you to keep her safe and away from this person until you can prove his intent. He's far too close to her for her to see the truth. There's too much trust between them that Grace will simply ignore the signs. I need you to protect her." He said urgently, gripping her arm to the point of pain to convey how important this was to him.

Hermione winced but nodded. "I'll protect her." She promised. "I'll make sure she's safe."

Remus sighed in relief and let go of her now throbbing arm. "Thank you." He said as he straightened his shirt before he walked out of the isle.

Hermione rocked back on her heels in a confused daze. What kind of idiot decided to walk straight into a trap he knows about just to confirm his suspicions?! She wondered in baffled aggravation.

It could only be a male thing, she concluded factually. Men were the only creatures she knew that were crazy enough to do that. And his behaviour! The man was positively erratic! She didn't lie; she would protect Grace with her life, but telling Grace about this conversation? She didn't know. She'd tell Grace Remus was leaving and that any letters sent to him probably wouldn't be welcome, but other than that? Should she even tell Grace about his behaviour?

Perhaps she ought to write to Viktor and inform him of this strange conversation. Maybe he could help her decipher the strangeness into something she could work with and then decide what she did and didn't have to tell her best friend. She just hoped this was a symptom of Remus' need to protect Grace and not something that indicated a larger problem that would put them all at risk.

\---******---

"Professor, can I ask you something?" Grace asked after some time of silence after the latest ‘lesson’ in Tom Riddle’s history.

"Of course my girl, ask away." Dumbledore stated jovially.

"I was reading an old book I found back in Sirius' house and...well it got me thinking."

"Some of the best books will do that." Dumbledore stated with a cheerful smile. "Why, once I even found a very imaginative one a muggle wrote about a monster in the woods!"

"Right." Grace said slowly, wondering if she should even ask. "Uh, well, this one said that were really isn't a light and dark magic divide, that it's just simply magic."

"Really? Fascinating!"

"So it's not true?" Grace questioned, wondering if she was more relieved or disappointed by that.

"Hmm." Dumbledore said thoughtfully. "In its barest essence, yes, perhaps that is true."

"But not anymore?" She pressed.

"Not quite in that sense, no. Wizards have categorized spells and perhaps even magic itself into categories of good and evil. The Cruciatus Curse, for example, would be one such spell."

Grace huffed. "Are you saying then that the book was right? That there is no such thing as dark and light magic?"

"I believe that we as a species are not that simple. Perhaps in terms of magic itself it is true. Magic simply exists and we are the wielders of that magic. As humans are want to do, we have given it a name and a place in our world. I daresay that our categorization of sections of magic also relies heavily on history."

Grace frowned in thought. "Like Voldemort? Because he likes using the three unforgivables?"

"Quite!" Dumbledore chuckled, proud eyes shining at her.

"So the more spells that are used in war, by the losing side, those are the ones we like calling 'evil'? Doesn't that essentially mean that there isn't a good or bad side to magic? Why are there restrictions on what we learn if magic is just magic?"

"Ah." Dumbledore said with a heavy sigh. "And now you have ventured into the realm of politics. In essence, yes. Children should be learning all magic. History has taught us that having such a wide array of available magics means a wider scope of witches and wizards who believe themselves greater than those without magic."

Grace huffed. "Maybe back then, but now? They have bombs and guns and gasses and toxins. They could wipe us all out if they wanted to and they wouldn't need magic to do it."

Dumbledore nodded. "An excellent point, however I feel it would be best to explain it with an example - Voldemort."

"Er, what?"

"We have been learning some of Tom's history, perhaps you can tell me what I intend to tell you?"

Grace snorted. "He hated being in the orphanage. He hated the bombs, he hated the fear."

"Hm. He very much disliked the helplessness of the situation he was placed in." Dumbledore correctly gently.

"So when he found out he was a wizard, he thought he'd found a safe space. And he had. Grace said slowly, thinking of all the things she had learned from Diary Tom. This was home, right up until he learned who his parents were."

Dumbledore nodded sadly. "His sense of injustice had grown. His mother, who had magic herself and thus could have done a number of things to save herself, hadn't lifted a finger to do so. His father was as weak and useless as he had thought himself to be as a muggle, yet he still lived."

"So what? He started to hate both sides of himself?"

Dumbledore hummed in thought. "I believe that his hatred for all things muggle was put at the forefront as he grew from boy to youth. First having to go back to the orphanage and the war, then later in finding out his father, and by extension his grandparents, were alive and well despite the war."

"So he killed them." Grace huffed. "What does this have to do with curbing the use of magic?"

"Tom thought just as you are right now. With so much information and knowledge out there, why limit oneself? He grew fascinated by the 'darker' side of magic, the magic forbidden by the ministry and decided that if it was forbidden, then it was clearly the only thing that would keep him safe. The more he learned and practiced, the more he fell."

Grace frowned at that. "But if all magic is the same, why did it change him?"

"Ah!" Dumbledore said delightedly. "And here we come upon the crux of the problem that so many of us have argued. Intent. Tom Riddle's intent was not to learn about magic, his intent was to use it in defence of his life and against all he perceived too weak to save themselves."

"Which slowly went from muggles to witches and wizards who couldn't protect themselves." She added with a dawning realization. "He had no use for the weak, he never had any intention of saving magic, he just wanted to root out weaknesses."

"Just so."

"So that's the difference? Intent?"

Dumbledore sighed. "I believe it is far more complicated than that for a casual conversation, but for now I will agree. If you intend to use magic in a way to harm another, that magic changes according to your intent. Does that make it evil? I do not believe so. I do believe that we assign evil intent after its use. A simple Avada could be used to end one's suffering but the instant it was used as a tool for murder, its designation was changed."

"But then why are some people better at the 'dark' magic? Why are there rumours that it can become addicting?"

"I believe it comes back to who the person is at their very core."

"Meaning what? That if you feel slightly more evil you gravitate towards spells that are used for darker purposes?"

Dumbledore hummed softly in thought. "Perhaps not in those specific terms, but yes. Someone who is, or thinks themselves to be, a good person would shy away from spells that would cause another pain or anguish. In it's mirror, a person who feels themselves to be slightly more vicious than the average person would have no problems using a spell to injure. As to why it could be addicting? I believe that when we, as wizards, have the power we do it can quickly turn our heads. If we are allowed to get away with the smaller, seemingly innocent, spells and graduate to those we have outlawed without any kind of repercussions, it becomes a sort of high one can keep seeking."

Grace and Dumbledore fell into a comfortable silence as she thought through what they had discussed. "So magic isn't good or evil, but people are?" She asked.

"Aren't they always?" He countered as he sipped his tea.

"I guess it depends on where you stand." Grace replied thoughtfully.

"And there we have come full circle!"

"I'm not sure this was helpful." Grace said with an amused snort.

"It so rarely is, I'm afraid."

\---******---

"Ok, that's it. What's wrong with you?” Grace demanded after Hermione snapped at her for trying to eat a croissant for breakfast. “You've been acting more strange than usual and now you’re trying to murder me for my breakfast choices."

"I'm late!" Hermione wailed in distress, but still quietly enough that no one would pay any attention to them.

Grace rolled her eyes. "You're never late. And we're still at breakfast so you can't be late."

"No, not that kind of late." Hermione said, widening her eyes several times as she nodded her head.

"Is there another kind of late?" Grace asked in confusion as she wondered what Hermione was doing.

"YES!" Hermione screamed before clearing her throat when people turned towards them. "Yes!" She hissed quietly. "The bloody kind!"

"The bloo-oh. _Oh!_ Grace frowned at her. "You know you're a virgin right?"

"Very well aware of that, thank you!" Hermione uttered a little hysterically.

"So you can't be pregnant."

"Virgin Mary is a thing! We're witches, who knows what could happen!"

"Uh huh. You're the next virgin Mary." Grace deadpanned as she turned back to her croissant and took a bite before Hermione could stop her.

"I could be! " She objected heavily.

Grace snorted. "Yeah, ok. And how late are you?"

"A day?"

"A day. You're a day late and freaking out?"

"Listen, woman, I was there when you freaked out the first time you had your period, so you're going to sit there and tell me I'm the next Virgin Mary or so help me-!" Hermione threatened darkly.

"Alright! Alright! You're the next Virgin Mary!" Grace said, raising her arms in surrender at the wild look in Hermione’s eyes.

"Thank you."

"What's happening?" Ginny asked, sliding into the seat across from them.

"Mione's the next Virgin Mary." Grace informed her.

"Who's Mary and why is she a virgin? Should you be calling her that? That seems sort of rude." Ginny said on a frown.

"It's a muggle thing, she thinks she's up the duff."

Ginny frowned in confusion. "But she’s never, you know."

Grace lifted her eyebrows, shook her head, and shrugged her shoulder. "I don't know what to tell you."

"Still here you know!" Hermione huffed out.

Ginny took on a thoughtful look. "You know," she said slowly, "there was a witch once that wanted a baby so badly that magic actually made it happen."

Hermione perked up. "Really?"

"Oh hell, don't tell her that!" Grace grumbled.

"So it's possible." Hermione crowed in victory.

"_No_." Grace stated firmly. "It's not. You're not pregnant because you don't want to be pregnant. Stop being stupid, you've only missed," she looked around her furtively "_it_ by a day. Stop freaking out and start thinking rationally."

Hermione hesitated. "It could be stress?"

"See! That's better." Grace said encouragingly.

Ginny frowned. "Stress is better?"

"I will murder you if you don't stop!" Grace hissed at her.

Ginny rolled her eyes in annoyance before starting to pile up food on her plate. "That's the last time I try to help you two. I even came over here to tell you two the latest news."

Grace rolled her eyes and ignored the unsubtle hinting while Hermione perked up and leaned forwards. "About someone we know?"

"Know might be a strong word, but I guarantee you'll love it."

"Go on then."

"Pansy Parkinson." Ginny uttered with malevolent glee.

Fay sat down next to Ginny just in time to hear the words. "Oh Morganna! I heard it too, can you just imagine the shame?" She asked, eyes sparkling.

"Couldn't have happened to a better witch." Ginny agreed with a grin.

"Alright." Grace said with a frown as her eyes darted from one girl to the next. "Now you've got me interested. What's going on?"

"So you heard about her getting caught with Malfoy last year, right?"

Grace and Hermione shared a look. "Right." They both agreed.

"Well. Her father found out she was still trying to get into his pants despite the contract being cancelled because she believes he loves her."

Grace snorted. "As if."

Fay nodded. "Everyone who has eyes knows that."

"But she doesn't?" Hermione asked, fully sceptical.

Ginny leaned towards them. "She thought it was all just a bump in the road. She was picking out table linens and calling herself the future Mrs. Malfoy."

"Well that's rather uncomfortable." Grace mumbled with a frown.

Ginny nodded. "Which, I heard, is exactly what she told her father."

"About linens?"

"No, about being the future Mrs. Malfoy."

"Bet that went over well."

"Like a box of boggarts. He went into a fit! Put her under a chastity charm and locked her into an iron clad Courting with a wizard from Latvia."

"Latvia?!" Hermione and Grace echoed together, surprise and shock on both of their faces.

Fay nodded. "I heard he's well over _fifty_. Her father, apparently, has been trying to get Parkinson to be his Heir but the only thing she was interested in was Malfoy so this was his punishment. Now he has to look into the secondary line for one of his brother's children and everyone knows he hates his brother. The man is furious!"

Ginny smirked evilly. "I heard he said 'if you want to be the next Mrs. anything, then you obviously don't give a damn who you marry'. I also heard he's trying for another child even as he's making provisions for his line."

"I thought Parkinson had a sister?" Grace asked.

"Nope, only child. Well," Fay added with a grin, "for now at least, if the rumours are true."

"And Parkinson?" Hermione asked, fully invested.

"She's gone completely mental! She's trying everything she can to get out of it, but both her father and her future husband have thought of everything. Every time she tries to get out of it, they up the wedding date. I heard it lasted until she realized they were serious, but it's too late to push the dates back so she's getting married this summer. She's been on a right tear about it since. She's been raging or wailing about how unfair her life is."

"I heard she's even trying to get it postponed since she's only a sixth year."

"And?"

"There are magical schools in Latvia, don't you know?" Fay grinned as Hermione cackled in delight.

"Couldn't happen to a lovelier witch." Hermione crowed in victory.

"How on earth do you two know this?" Grace asked, amused at how much Hermione was enjoying the news.

"I know a girl in Ravenclaw." Fay answered, scooping some fresh fruit into a bowl. "She's under the Greengrass umbrella so she goes to a lot of functions. Turns out that she was standing near Lord Parkinson at one of those functions when he had one too many." Fay said with a significant look. "He spilled the whole thing to one of his acquaintances."

"So how do you know about it?" Hermione asked as she turned to Ginny.

Ginny grinned widely. "I have my ways."

"You know, sometimes I wonder how a girl could survive growing up with six brothers and then you say things like that and I wonder how on earth they survived you." Hermione said as she shook her head in mild disbelief.

"Can't tell you all my secrets, now can I?" Ginny said lowly as she grinned in delight. Grace smirked and gave her wink as Fay and Hermione laughed.

"On a different note, why are you getting so much mail these days?" Fay asked as an owl dropped in front of Grace.

"Hm? Oh, I found out I have vault full of letters addressed to 'The-Girl-Who-Lived' and the goblins demanded I sort it all out. So now every month I get a box filled with letters to go through."

"Can't be that bad, can it?" Fay stated as she looked at the box Grace had resized after the owl had flown off.

"I've been getting letters since I defeated Voldemort as a baby and no one has been organizing the vault since it opened." Grace said leadingly as she opened the box to show Fay.

"That's...ah hah." Fay nodded, clearly at a loss for words.

"So instead of spending the next year in there, I get a certain amount of letters and hope that eventually they stop coming." Grace said with a shrug.

"Good luck with that ‘Chosen One’." Ginny said before giggling madly at Grace's horrified look of dawning recognition.

“What’s that?” A voice asked, making all four girls turn around. Malfoy stood next to Grace, an arm length away and looked at the box with a mixture of interest and jealousy.

“Not any of your business.” Grace retorted with a frown.

“Only trying to make nice, Potter.” Malfoy replied slowly.

“Oi! This is the Gryffindor table Malfoy!” Ron yelled out, suddenly coming up from behind Malfoy and shoving him with his shoulder.

“Oh boy.” Ginny groaned.

“This is going to get ugly.” Hermione muttered.

“I’m getting McGonagall.” Fay stated before rushing off to the head table.

“Go bother someone else with your stink.” Ron sneered as he turned back to Malfoy.

“Why? Wondering what kind of money you could get if you hang around The-Girl-Who-Lived long enough? Think she might want to date you if eliminate all of her options?” Malfoy derided bitingly.

Grace groaned in mortification as Ron turned puce and all eyes went straight to her. “Thanks for dragging me into this.” She muttered as she dropped her head on the table to make herself less visible.

“I’ll teach you!” Ron snarled as he pulled out his wand and pointed it Malfoy’s way.

“What is the meaning of this?” McGonagall thundered before Malfoy could do much more than pull out his own wand.

“Erm.” Ron chocked out.

“He attacked me!” Malfoy stated immediately. “I was defending myself.”

“Seeing as you both have your wands out you can both follow me.” McGonagall stated firmly as Ron started to loudly protest Malfoy’s statement.

"He's up to something." Grace warned as she watched McGonagall lead Malfoy and Ron away.

"So you've said." Hermione stated absently as she gathered her things.

"I just think it's beyond odd." Grace grumbled as they made their way to the library.

"What? That Malfoy likes you?"

"No, that I put Malfoy's father into Azkaban and now he's being nice about it."

"He didn't stay there very long did he? Got off on a technicality." Hermione pointed out.

"Not the point. I still put him there. I was still the reason...huh." Grace stopped, a thought suddenly occurring to her.

James had said he expected Voldemort to take someone with him that would balance him out, but what if that person wasn't in a place to do that? What if he had wanted to take Lord Malfoy but the effects of Azkaban had taken a toll on him that day and Voldemort was forced to take someone else? Not that that excused Voldemort in any way (the man was a murdering psychopath for fucks sake!) but maybe it explained a little why James had been so confident that the peace negotiations would work. He had expected Lord Malfoy, not the Lestrange brother from hell.

"What?" Hermione prodded when she had been silent for too long.

"Lord Malfoy was probably suffering from the effects of Azkaban during the summer."

"Asking or telling?"

"Both. "

"Well, objectively speaking and seeing the results of Azkaban first hand, it would make sense that any amount of time spent in that hell hole would leave some severe effects on both the mind and body. Imagine being near dementors twenty-four seven, even for a short amount of time without a patronus. You said they tried to suck out your soul and you were thirteen."

"And he was in there over a month."

"What are you getting at exactly?"

"Hm? The thing that James and I are fighting about."

"Yes?"

"I think I may have been a little short sighted. I'm not wrong," Grace felt the need to point out, "but I think I might not be totally right either."

"And somehow this has to do with Lord Malfoy and his time in Azkaban?" Hermione asked unsurely.

"In a manner of speaking. What you said earlier, about finding a better way to communicate with him."

"Yes?"

"I think I might be ready to give that a go."

Hermione snorted. "Well thank Morganna for that."

"Shouldn't you be thanking me?"

"I'll be thanking you when you actually manage to do it."

"I'd resent that if it wasn't true." Grace said on a heavy sigh.

"So you're ready to get over the fight you won't discuss?"

"Maybe not ready to get over it exactly because James' attitude needs some serious discussion, but I'm open to not fighting about it anymore."

"Not fighting about the fight, yay!" Hermione said with fake happiness.

"Still convinced Malfoy's up to something though." Grace said, feeling the need to point it out.

"Of course you are." Hermione sighed despondently as she walked away. "What else is new?"

\---******---

Remus had been wandering around for just a few weeks, meeting only one group of werewolves who scattered before he could even utter Albus' name. It wasn't looking good and the longer he was out here the more chance he had in bumping into someone from Fenrir's pack. During moments such as these, when his mind was prone to wandering off and nobody was around for miles, Remus regretted not seeking Grace out more and more. He even somewhat regretted scaring Hermione the way he had, but he preferred her fear of him over the outcome if his baseless suspicions were true.

A rustling of the leaves behind him had him spinning about only to come face to face with James.

"James? What are you doing here?" Remus asked in surprise as he watched James sigh in frustration and ruffle his hair as he had done when they where children.

"Remus, I honestly hadn't thought it would come to this. Well," he amended ruefully, "not this soon in any case, but Riddle royally fucked up and I have to set the scales again and this is the only way."

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked slowly, his eyes jumping around their unsafe location while he wondered if they were in danger, wondered if James had brought danger.

James huffed. "Honestly, I wonder why I let you have her this long, why I even considered it when we both know I don't share."

Remus slowly stopped moving, all his focus aimed at the man in front of him. "Oh Merlin." He said under his breath. "James...James, please tell me you're not about to do what I think you will."

James smiled at him. A small thing, almost as if he was saddened at the course of action. "Riddle fucked up, Remus." He said gently.

"So you've said. What I don't understand is how it relates to me."

"I needed something that would bring Grace back to my side. He had scared her off, you see. If he was still the 'bad guy' then it only stood to reason that Albus was the 'good guy' and she'd run back to him. Almost did." He spat out in anger. "Merlin, but it's difficult to rid her of Albus' influence."

"Where do I come into play then?" Remus asked, inching his wand into his hand and slowly adjusting his stance. This would be a fight for his life.

"You." James laughed. "You happened to be the right bloke at the right time. Don't get me wrong here Remus, you would have eventually ended up here anyway but it would have meant more grief for Grace and this...well this just works better for me."

Remus growled. "What. Does. That. Mean."

"It means I need to make a dent in her unfailing trust of the esteemed headmaster. It means that I convinced a certain few key members that the werewolves would need convincing yet again. It means that they went to Albus and expressed their concerns which lead Albus to send you out here. Alone, without back-up and no way of contacting anyone when things went south."

"I knew something was different about you, something wrong." Remus stated, now making his movements obvious, his wand outstretched and standing firmly in battle stance. "You're going to kill me."

"No. I can't lie to Grace and she will ask, one day she will ask and I refuse to lie to her." James stated, watching Remus with his head cocked to the side.

It hit Remus like a bolt of lightning. "Sirius." He stated. "Oh Merlin, Sirius. You had him murdered as well. Before he died he was getting increasingly erratic. Telling us he remembered you, telling us you were going to take Grace from him, telling us you were going to kill him. We thought it was Azkaban, we thought his mind had gone but it hadn't, had it? It was you."

"I never murdered him, I wasn't even there to see him die." James told him, a pleasant smile on his lips that shook the wolf to his bones.

"How long have you been here James? How long have you watched and planned? How long have you had to put your chessboard together?" Remus hissed, suddenly angry and terrified of what was to come, of what his childhood friend had become. What he had known would happen but ignored nonetheless.

"Almost two years." James replied, watching Remus with anticipation. Like a wolf on the hunt.

Remus stopped breathing. "Two years?" He closed his eyes in resignation. James had been a possessive bastard when they were younger, had burned others to the ground when they got in the way of him and the object of his desire. He had caused the McKinnon line to become extinct because the witch in question had dared to tell Lily Evans that James was crazy. It wouldn't have been that bad if Lily hadn't listened. It had taken him three weeks to even get her to talk to him again and when school closed for the summer, the McKinnon’s were attacked by Voldemort and the line had died. He only had a handful of weeks to get that plan together.

That had been Lily. A plaything, a name to be scratched off, a passing of the time. Grace though, Grace was the real thing and Remus was terrified of what James would do to keep her. Well, he knew what James had done to keep her, or rather just to get closer to her. He nodded to himself.

"Sirius would never have let you near her, he would have told her the truth in his own twisted way. That you knew her real parentage and had kept her from her father just to spite him. He would have hoarded her time, her love, her everything, and you don't share. So when he died and you suddenly showed up I was relieved and we didn't think anything of it. Then you shared Grace and I thought you'd changed in the months you'd been here." He looked up at James. "You haven't changed at all. It's been a blink of the eye for you. You never even had to deal with the war, deal with the aftermath because it was all a game to you."

James smiled sadly at him. "I've been here for two years, Remus. I followed Gracie as closely as I could, watched where she lived, what she ate, how she breathed. I know exactly what the aftermath of the war was. I know what it cost." He ground his teeth together. "I won't let her be the cost again. I won't let her down like the entire Wizarding world let her down. I won't leave her like you did."

Remus stepped back as if slapped. "I didn't have a choice!" He screamed. "I'm a werewolf! I would have never gained custody, never would have been allowed near her! I couldn't even get a bloody proper job to take care of myself!"

"You didn't even visit her!" James raged right back. "They were muggles and they wouldn't have even thought that you were a werewolf, wouldn't have known how to tell! You could have seen her once a once a week, once a month, once a bloody year! Only you didn't! You left her there to be abused, left her there to be a slave!"

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Remus yelled, wishing desperately that he could believe himself. "Albus was supposed to take care of her!"

"Albus." James sneered. "One word from that man and you all jump and then apologize for not asking how high."

"You want him dead." Remus shook his head. He wasn't getting out of this, he realized slowly. If James had planned for Albus' death, his would be all too easy to accomplish. James was right, he was in the middle of nowhere without any back-up and no way of getting out if things turned ugly. James had set a fine trap.

"I want him to pay." James contradicted. "If that means his death..." He shrugged. "So be it."

Remus lowered his wand. "Why James? First Sirius and now me. Why? What else have you done? Have you obliviated me as well? Was anything you told me the truth?"

James smiled softly. "Oh Remus," he said gently as he put his hands in his pockets and looked terribly sad, "whoever said it was about you?"

Before Remus could even reply, a cold hand wrapped around his throat and faster than he could comprehend he was bitten in the juncture of his neck. Vampire, his mind sluggishly replied. He tried fighting the man off but he hadn't seen the attack coming and once a vampire's teeth punctured skin, their venom made sure that their victims became pliant. He had lost before he even had the chance to fight.

"Grace...will...know." He choked out, watching James' delighted face as his death drew near.

James merely nodded, still standing with his hands in his pockets. "She will. And I will be there to comfort her when she learns of your murder."

Remus couldn't even argue that he had made sure Hermione Granger would be suspicious of his death, that the extraordinarily clever girl would put the pieces together and all of James' work would be for naught. He smiled at James as he slowly died, knowing James would die by Grace's hand soon enough.

\---******---

He had fed her cravings.

He had eased her need.

He had smothered her want.

He had gained her soul.

He burned in her blood, stained her skin, beat with her heart as she breathed him in. She belonged to him. She knew it as certain as she knew she was alive, a truth she had hidden from the light as her hunger grew in the dark.

Now she wavered.

Trust had broken, bonds weakened.

Was his intent true?

Was she still willing?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling a little unsure with this one because of the fast pace so let me know what you thought!


	11. Hermione's Interlude

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Last month was a disaster. Does that mean this month there are two chapters? Why yes it does! Surprise! A very big thank you and a warm hug to everyone who sent me love and support, I'm insanely grateful!
> 
> *We interrupt our regular scheduled programming for some mildly more sensible romancing with mostly sensible people.*  
Warning: a small portion of this will be copied conversations from a previous chapter, so if you think you've read it, you probably have.

"Ginny, for Christ sake, just help me!" Hermione gritted out, eyes still darting around the room to check that nobody would catch her unaware, despite the fact that it was summer and the house was filled with more mischievous children than her.

Ginny only frowned harder and crossed her arms. "Why?"

"I already told you that." Hermione stated, trying her very best to keep her exasperation in check.

"You told me you had to do something and that's not a good enough reason to get into trouble with mum if something horrible happens to you while you're away."

"I'm not going out to find trouble, I'm going to the goblins! Really, you'd think I was off doing something nefarious!"

"When you hang about Grace long enough trouble finds you whether you mean it to or not." Ginny stated firmly, still not budging.

"Goblins, Ginny. Inside _Gringotts_. That's all I'm doing."

"If that's all you're doing why can't I tell mum? Why do you need me to distract her?"

"Because...oh for heaven's sake! I'm going to get an inheritance test alright."

Ginny lost her aggressive stance as she blinked at the new information. "Alright." She started slowly as she dropped her crossed arms. "And mum can't know because...?"

Hermione worried her lip. "I'm not sure." Ginny narrowed her eyes and huffed loudly. "I'm not!" Hermione defended. "I just...I don't know if this is going to go anywhere and I'd rather not have an audience to what will happen."

"You're not making a lot of sense." Ginny accused.

"I know that, I just need to do this alone with as little people knowing as possible."

"Because if you inherit nothing you'll be embarrassed." Ginny stated, reading between the lines.

"Well that sounds horrible."

"I'm not promising anything because keeping mum occupied when she's got a list is really hard, but if you slip off right when we get there and I make her focus on getting everything then I can tell her that you slipped off to get some money if she does notice you're gone. Or that we lost you to the books, that’s far more realistic."

"Thank you Ginny." Hermione said gratefully as she almost deflated in relief.

"The lines can only be so long." Ginny warned with a stern look. "So make whatever you’re doing as quick as possible because you’re not worth me getting punished."

"That's a fair deal." Hermione said with a smile.

"And I'll be cashing in this favour whenever I need one in return, no questions asked." Ginny stated with a wide innocent smile as she walked out of the room.

Hermione winced. "Well. That's going to bite me in the arse later."

***------***

Thankfully it hadn't taken all that much effort to temporarily part ways with Mrs. Weasley (something she felt incredibly guilty about but it simply had to be done) so while Ginny distracted her mother by making her focus on their list, Hermione slipped away and walked at a brisk pace towards the bank. She studiously ignored the terrifying goblins standing guard outside and quickly joined the shortest queue there was while she waited for a teller to open. It took an agonizingly long twenty minutes while the three wizards in front of her argued and explained their needs.

She had never been the type of person to go off on her own in times of crisis and, even though this was important, it was also making her conscience reprimand her heavily for her foolish actions. Defendable and completely justifiable actions, mind, but foolish nonetheless, especially if it didn't pan out.

When it was finally her turn, she pulled her shoulders back and politely, but sternly, asked for an inheritance test and enduring a sneering face and some muttering in Gobbledygook that she was sure was unfavourable. Which wasn't fine and wasn't very nice, but she had to deal with it in order to get to her end goal.

She was told to wait at the doors at the far end of the hall until her name was called. She was bursting with questions (would they do the test here, what happened after the test, would she automatically have access to any vaults, what happened if there was nothing and she couldn't pay, was there a special room for inheritance tests) but wisely kept quiet under the quelling stare of the goblin who boomed out a 'next' as she shuffled away. Nice lot, they were not. She hoped relations would improve later but seeing as she was already a customer she wasn't holding her breath. Maybe this was one of differences between the people who had always lived in the magical world and those, like her, who were still learning the ins-and-outs.

That was the biggest reason she was doing this, really. She'd spent the last five years reading anything and everything she could get her hands on, researched until her head hurt and her stomach grumbled, until she was positive that her hands would always be ink stained. And yet, despite all of her effort, she still felt like she was on the outside looking in and she simply couldn't understand why.

She had asked Padma in fourth year, when they got the chance to mingle with the students from Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, but her answer had not only frustrated her with how little it made sense, it also proved to her that she was missing something that was inherent to the children that had grown up with magic. Padma could only tell her that it was a feeling, that it was magic and that it was part of her, part of her family and explaining anything more than that had lead to frowns and an almost-argument that made both girls agree to cool their heads before trying to explain it again. Which never happened.

Then Grace had shown up in a whirl of chaos and movement and information, and suddenly what Padma had told her had made a bit more sense. Grace hadn't been aware of what she was telling her, and Hermione hadn't even realized at the time that she was getting the answers she had wanted, but once she did...well, it was the reason she was sat here waiting for a goblin who could change her whole world.

It was only a mere ten minutes of nail biting anguish before she was called up and escorted towards a door and shoved (she was sure!) into the room. She tried to ease her automatic anger at being manhandled like that, but she was trying to put her best foot forward and treat them as equals. Partly because that's exactly the way they should be treated and partly because she had a vault here and they were in charge of her money.

"Inheritance test." The goblin she had been introduced to as Grinluff grunted out as she sat down in the visitor's chair.

"Yes, that's right." Hermione stated respectfully.

If her research had told her anything it was to be quick, to the point, and give no more information than needed when dealing with the goblins as to not waste their time. Time spent meant time lost in when dealing with wizards and witches, unless of course your business included money and then the time spent wasn't seen as lost time at all. Fascinating culture really, and a real shame that Professor Binns seemed only to highlight the various wars and altercations involving goblins. Of course, most should know how bloodthirsty the Hoard really was so history wouldn't repeat itself.

"Pierce your finger, one drop of blood." Grinluff grunted out.

Hermione, already prepared with her own knife, made a small cut on her index finger and pushed out a single drop of blood that she let drop into the potion Grinluff had pushed her way. She gave the goblin a smile but let it drop quickly as his general facial features morphed into something a little more murderous. Not really friendly, Grinluff. Knowing what the potion was going to do, she took several steps back to stand at a safe distance and didn't miss the disappointed look on the goblins face at her actions. He hadn't wanted her to look closer, had he? That seemed unnecessarily cruel.

Needless to say, she was a safe distance away when the combined ingredients started to glow before emitting smoke. She took another hasty step back when flames burst out of the bowl and she silently thanked her stars that she had been thorough enough to read up on everything there was concerning inheritance tests before asking for one. She would not have liked learning about this as she went. Frankly, doing what she was doing now was pushing the limits of her comfort and if she wasn't as interested as she was, she would probably have never even considered doing this.

Grinluff leaned over the bowl to retrieve the parchment just as Hermione took a step forward. The goblin opened the parchment and read her results before nodding and handing the thing over to her. She frowned a little because she wasn't sure she liked the fact that the goblin had just taken a look at what could possibly be very personal information. Were they allowed to do that? Should she have specified that the information was for her eyes only?

Shaking off her slight irritation, she opened the rerolled parchment and promptly dropped heavily into the provided seat. Her personal history was all there (age, birth date, mother, father etc), including her own vault, but the real surprise came when she read her mother's history. Apparently a magical inheritance test only stated her father as lineage since he was muggle with no Wizarding blood and thus went no further.

Her mother's on the other hand, seemed to have some latent magic in her blood. From what the test was telling her, her mother's great-grandmother had been born a squib and had, essentially, been a muggle. She had grown up adopted and the magic in her blood had been passed down the generations until it had finally 'activated' in Hermione. While that was fascinating and she would definitely take a closer look at her new family history, it also meant she was a McKinnon by blood and thus able to inherit the line.

"The McKinnon House, why is it written in grey?" Hermione asked, finally lifting her head.

"The line is dead, you have taken the inheritance test and you now know you are a part of that House it has recognised the existence of a member of its House."

That sounded...really unsettling actually and she wasn't sure how to take it so she simply marked it in her mind as an interesting fact and moved on to more important matters. "So since I have acknowledged the existence of the House but not my part of it, it has gone grey? And if I wanted to take my place as part of the family?"

Grinluff gave her a hungry look. "Are you asking me to fetch you the Lord ring? Are you going to inherit the Lordship of House McKinnon?"

Now, there was a lot Hermione had known she hadn't known yet and this was one of the area's she knew she hadn't gotten enough information on, mostly because she had been stuck in the muggle world this summer and Grace had told her less information than she had wanted. The Black library had a book or two, but nothing that would have really allowed her dive in and research anything to her hearts content. At the moment she was stuck with the basic information of what was going on, but nothing too in depth and it was causing her quite a bit of anxiety. Given the situation, she was going to have to do her best to really think everything out before coming to a well-informed conclusion.

"Yes." Which wasn't well informed at all and she managed to surprise herself with her audacity and also, _what was she doing?!_

"Wait here." Grinluff stated and disappeared before she could even think stop him.

Well it was hardly like she could stop him now, right? This was a good thing. A very good thing. This was going to answer everything she had wanted to know and give her a better understanding of her new world and the life she would have once she left Hogwarts. Right? Right. Right. It was a good thing. A _good_ thing.

It was Grace's fault is what it was. She had never been this spontaneous in her life before Grace bloody Potter! Why was she doing this? This could turn out absolutely terribly! She had no idea what was going on for heaven's sake! And what would her parents say?

No. No, absolutely not. He'd come back and she'd simply say 'thank you very much, but no thank you. I've changed my mind.' Simple, effective, and to the point. There was absolutely no need to panic, it would all be absolutely fi-

Grinluff walked back into his office and plunked down a box in front of her and looked at her expectantly.

"Yes?" Hermione hesitated, a little cowed by his look and his proximity, neither of which was very soothing to her ruffled nerves.

"Open it." He demanded with a bark.

Almost automatically she reached over for the box, picked it up, and opened it. On a bed of pale pink velvet a gold signet ring lay peacefully, innocuously, and it scared her almost half to death. "What am I meant to do?"

"Stupid witch, put it on!" Grinluff commanded.

Not nice, goblins, and she took great offense to the insult but she grit her teeth and tried her best not to glare at the goblin by focusing her eyes on the ring in her hands. The family crest was set with a carnelian stone, the carved crest had a shield, and a mantling with helmet placed on top of the shield. Taking a closer look she noticed that the shield had a cross on it with seven stars surrounding it. She was sure that number was important somehow, just as the stars and placement of them were as well. Something to look into later. She also noticed that there were two swans above the mantling and quietly trilled at the new mystery that was her House ring.

She picked up the ring and noticed on the inside some words engraved in Latin, but one glance at Grinluff had her thinking that right now might not be the time to read it. Resigning herself to doing whatever the goblin wanted, she slipped the ring on her right hand ring finger and then stretched out her hand to get a better look at the ring now that she was wearing it. It was sort of pretty and she wouldn't mind wearing it, but personally she figured that silver was a better colour for her complexion.

Looking back up at Grinluff for further instructions, she was suddenly gripped with an immense amount of power, a power so deep and so vast she couldn't breathe. Before she could even contemplate panicking, the magic wrapped around her core and soothed her with such warmth and confidence that she simply felt herself let go and accept what was happening. Suddenly she could breathe again, and she opened her eyes as her magic curled inside of her with such sensitivity that she could feel the capability and potential of a magical line that she had bound herself to. It an was entirely mind blowing experience that had her trying to grasp for a rational and logical explanation even as she just understood everything so much better now. There were no words to how she was feeling, no way to put into words how connected her magic now was, no possible rational explanation of how her bones had settled and her magic rejoiced. She _belonged_ now, and she wanted to weep for the security it had given her.

"Wha-what was that?" She somehow managed to stutter out.

"That was the magic of your House accepting you. Congratulations." Grinluff stated and Hermione really wasn't sure if he meant that as a positive or a negative.

"That sort of thing happens every time then?"

"It is not our business to know."

"And the...the magic, that's all me now?"

"It is the magic of your line."

"So it hasn't made me more-"

"Powerful? No. You wizards and witches always ask the same question. Predictable." Grinluff sneered at her.

Hermione wanted to be offended but she just didn't have the capacity to care at the minute. "All right. So now what?"

"As you are of age because of your heinous use of a time-turner, you have been legally accepted as Lord McKinnon of the Noble House of McKinnon." Grinluff stated as he shuffled through some papers on his desk. "These are your files. You must put your House in order. I will be your account manager, everything must go through me."

"So that means-"

"Learning the obligations of your House. You have responsibilities towards your accounts, vaults, properties, and any living beings under your care."

"Right." Hermione stated faintly, suddenly understanding exactly what she had done on a whim. "That's-yes, of course. Get my House in order. I can do that."

"Now to the matter of payment."

Hermione blinked. "Payment? Payment of what?"

Black beady eyes narrowed in her direction. "The inheritance test. It is not free of charge."

"No, no, of course not. I should pay right now then." Hermione said quickly, knowing it was best not to argue with a goblin over money.

"You should."

Hermione cleared her throat. "How much?"

"350 galleons."

Hermione's eyes bulged out as she mentally calculated the exchange rates. "Excuse me?"

"Are you deaf now too?" Grinluff complained, throwing some words at her in Gobbledygook that she was really starting to think were curses.

"But." Hermione spluttered. "Are you quite sure that's the price?"

"Are you calling me a liar?" Grinluff roared at her, standing up and slamming his hands down on his desk.

"Certainly not!” Hermione backtracked as quickly as possible. “It's just a large amount of money." Hermione protested.

Grinluff sat down with a suspicious look. "You could have gone to the Ministry."

"And how much would that have cost me?"

"Twenty galleons."

Hermione's eyes went wide with shock. "Twe-twenty galleons!? That's the most ridiculous up marking I've ever heard of! This is preposterous!"

"And yet you've already taken the test and gained a Lordship because of it. You are in possession of enough funds to pay."

"What would have happened if I hadn't been able to pay?"

"You would have paid." The goblin repeated with steel in his voice.

Since she really couldn't argue that, she opened her Gringotts folder and gave him a written statement that allowed him to take the enormous amount of money from her very new account. This, she promised to herself silently, was the last bloody time she did anything on a whim without doing the needed research. She could have saved herself 330 galleons for heavens sake!

Once she had paid Grinluff handed her a small stack of folders and not-so-politely kicked her out of his office. She should have minded, but seeing as she was still in shock and on a rather tight schedule, she ignored it. She stuffed the folders into her expanding purse and used her galleon from the DA to ask Ginny where she was. What she really needed was a good dose of Grace Potter logic. Feeling her coin heat up, she checked it and sighed a little in relief that Ginny had steered her mother to getting new robes and had mentioned that Hermione best head over to the book store. Knowing a sound plan when she heard it, she found herself wandering a deserted isle some minutes later and breathing out in relief. It had gone to plan.

Perhaps, and only perhaps, Grace might have been onto something when she grumbled about greedy goblins. Now that she had a few minutes to spare, and no one was around her, she pulled out one of the files at random and opened it. A little peek into her future wouldn't do any harm, she reasoned as she glimpsed over the files inside. Hang on. Courtship contracts? What did that mean?

Pulling out the file in question she saw a list of seventeen names, names that had dates behind them that, with some, stretched back to the 1800's. Some that she'd never heard of, some that seemed to spark a hint of recognition, but one name jumped out at her and it caught her breath in the same moment it caught her attention. _Longbottom_. Neville? It was a hopeful thought as she lightly stroked her fingers across the name. To her horror his name turned bright silver and a line wrote itself out underneath the name.

**Courtship contract request sent. Pending acceptance.**

What.

What?

_WHAT?_

Oh no, oh no, oh no, _oh noooooooo_. Why did she keep doing these things? What was going on with her magic?! It was just a simple wish, one that she made with her heart, that could have been a heart wish and now Neville was going to know! Not. Good. She had to fix this. She would fix this because this was fixable. She had a House now, a Wizarding name. She could fix this. How was she going to fix this?

Grace.

Grace got into trouble like this all the time; she'd know what to do. Yes. Calm. Deep breaths. Grace would know what to do, she could help set everything to rights. All she had to do was act like a calm, collected, normal person and everything would be just fine. Everything would be just fine.

***------***

It was not fine. It was so far from fine that she didn't know which way was up anymore. Thankfully it wasn't terrible and a rather huge crisis was averted, even though she was now facing a different sort of crisis.

Krum. Krum! There wasn't enough luck in the world for this type of coincidence, and Hermione didn't know whether or not to hope that _this_ Krum was _her_ Krum, but hope she did.

Her feelings for Neville were complicated and, to be honest, even though she accepted his contract on a whim (and completely unknowingly at that) without getting an answer from Neville yet, she felt as if she had hope for a real future for the first time in years. Neville was still an option and her heart longed for his easy acceptance of who she was, but the cold hard truth that James had told her made her doubt everything. She hadn't grown up in this world and despite spending all of her available time catching up on what she needed to know in order to succeed, there were always going to be little things that made her stand out as an outsider.

She simply wasn't aware of the intricacies that surrounded purebloods and she had no way of finding out what they were since they would never think to either write it down or tell someone. You either knew and belonged or you didn't know and firmly didn't belong. To think that Neville's grandmother would force a choice upon him like James' parents had, it boggled her mind. Hadn't they come far enough into this century to be able to choose their own futures? Was it still necessary for a grandmother to look over her grandson's shoulder and prod him in the direction she wanted him to go?

On top of that, Hermione had no idea if Neville even cared for her the way she cared for him. No, it wasn't love yet but it was lust and so much more than just merely a crush that she wondered if this was what love was supposed to feel like.

Not that her time with Viktor been lesser in any way, it was just that Neville was here and a real option. Viktor had been something akin to a summer fling. The first boy that had ever looked at her and seen _more_. The first boy who wanted her for just who she was. Then the end of school came around and reality set in (helped by Grace's torturous adventure). They were both in two different worlds, the age difference was a little more startling after Viktor graduated, and truth be told, she didn't want to get invested in someone she knew could never be a real option. She had enjoyed their conversations immensely, but wasn't bothered when that contact started to dwindle down, even as it caused her heart to sadden as reality set it once more.

Strangely, here she was now, having sent out two Courtship requests to two men who had a special place in her heart. One who had always been a trusted friend and confidence, and the other a first crush. Only time would tell what would become of her requests, but her heart and her head were already starting to fight each other.

***------***

House Krum,

Kostadin Krum

Greetings Mr. Krum,

I understand that it is quite unusual to receive a letter from the person not only initiating a Courtship contract but also by the person whom it will involve.

As magic has already informed you, I hope my letter and its contents are not a surprise and that I may sooth any uneasy feelings and answer any questions you may have.

I have instigated a Courtship request to your family and can now only inform you of my intentions, my hope, and my history if we are to continue down this path. Recently I have accepted the honour of taking up the Lordship of the Noble House of McKinnon and have come across the still standing Courtship request instigated by both of our Houses, which I have accepted. My former name was of Granger, a muggle surname, although I must take the time to point out that my line clearly continued, as I am a McKinnon by blood. I urge you to recount to me any hesitation you might have that would hinder this union if you feel my history inadequate so I may sever our tentative Courtship for one that is more suitable.

I am filled with joy and hope at the prospect of the possible joining of our families and can only hope for your goodwill.

The finer points of the Courtship contract state that, if amenable, my personal tastes may be taken into account and to that end I would enquire about any of age sons that would not only like to join me permanently in England (where my seat requires me to stay) but also be interested in my person. It should also be noted that I am currently a still a student at Hogwarts and am 17 years old. I understand that this may come as a surprise but let me assure you that my age has very little to do with my ability to run my House and make decisions concerning my life and my future.

Finally, my hope for the joining of both our Houses can only be stated in a tentative hope of happiness, and belaying that, a strong kinship between us.

Sincerely,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon

***------***

Hello Mum and Dad,

Hi. I mean, hullo. I know I write home often and that the things I tell you are usually about schoolwork and sometimes Grace and what a disaster of a friend Ron is and how I just can't understand why Lavender and Parvati are such horrid gossips but (and I'm terribly sorry for rambling, but this is rather hard to say) I did something silly. Well, not silly in the sense of hurting my academics or getting pregnant, because that's not it.

I should start differently, shouldn't I? All right. You know how in the <strike>mugg</strike> the normal world there were lords and ladies of houses that we still have today? They have the same thing in the Wizarding world, only the lessening of that hasn't happened with time as it has in the your world. You see, titles and names really do mean a great deal in my world and Grace (she's done some silly things over the years but I don't think I can say this is one of them) she went and got something called an inheritance test.

It means that people take a sample of our blood and trace our bloodline for our family tree. It turns out that my magic actually comes from your side of the family mum. My great-great-great something or other grandmother was actually a squib (someone born to a magical family that has no magic) and she was adopted by people in your world. That family was called the McKinnon family and it turns out that, aside from me, there isn't anyone left. Now you might be wondering what that silly thing is and I shall get to the point. Here it is: I took the title and name of the McKinnon family.

Officially, in the magical world, I'm no longer Hermione Granger. I'm Lord Hermione Jean McKinnon of the Noble House of McKinnon. I'm still your daughter in all the ways that count, but I really want to be a part of my world and to do that I needed this name.

I hope you can understand why I had to and I hope you can forgive me for it.

All my love,

Always your daughter,

Hermione.

***------***

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Your history is acceptable to us and we shall harbour no ill will to your previous poor blood.

As to your inquiry of any able male children that would be willing to begin a Courtship with you - I will be happy to note that my second son, Viktor, has expressed great surprise and pleasure in your suit and is more than willing to accept. He has made me aware that you have met before and started a correspondence that he feared at an end. This has brought us great joy.

I request you write a list of stipulations for this Courtship so that we may start negotiations.

Sincerely,

Kostadin Krum

Lord of House Krum

P.S.

My wife would like to send hope and wishes back for a strong bond and a happy union.

***------***

Viktor. It felt like fortune favoured her in that moment and she was only too happy to have just this little bit of luck in her life. So much so, actually, that she had promptly burst into tears and had a complete breakdown. All of her stress, worry, and disquiet surrounding the debacle of the Courtship contracts faded away with one good cry. Of course, she still hadn't heard a single thing from the Longbottom's, but this. This was hope. This was hope and a fresh start with someone she had known and respected. It was a good foundation and a brighter future than just that morning, even with everything else hanging over her head.

What she needed now more than ever was a distraction. Which is why she gathered up her files and made her way over to wherever Grace had hidden herself since it was probably the quietest place in the house to do any sort of work. Finding her had been surprisingly easy and it was even more of a surprise to see her doing some work. Nevertheless, she had come here for a reason.

"I have a household to run!" Hermione uttered in glee as she looked over the folders she had gotten from her very own goblin account manager!

"What, you're happy you've gone back to the Victorian era?" Grace replied sarcastically as she continued to look through a folder in front of her.

"I'm happy I have a place in this world now, thank you very much." Hermione retorted loftily, slightly annoyed that she wasn't getting Grace's full attention but she knew better than to distract Grace when she was actually doing some work.

She also knew she was being a little selfish, but having had so much thrown at her (by admittedly herself) left her feeling a little vulnerable and she was simply looking for a little support.

"You had a place before." Grace pointed out.

"Yes, but I wouldn't really have gotten anywhere, would I?" Hermione replied as she tried not to roll her eyes.

Grace, despite being a muggleborn by circumstance, never really faced the problems Hermione faced because she had a 'proper bloodline' that held status in the Wizarding world. Without even knowing it Grace had always had a leg up and didn't seem to understand that despite Hermione's very best efforts, she would never have gotten as far as House McKinnon would take her now.

Grace shrugged. "Who's to say? Maybe the outcome of the war would have changed everything."

"Yes, and pigs can fly. Don't answer that." Hermione warned quickly, followed by a glare when Grace opened her mouth.

Grace held up her hands in innocence, as if that had ever fooled anyone. "I wasn't going to say a thing."

"Please. You've got three quips ready to go, I know you." Hermione said as she narrowed her eyes at Grace.

Grace snorted but smiled, lowering her hands. "That's not a lot of files by the way." She said with a nod towards her hands.

"It isn't?" Hermione asked as she looked at the stack of papers in front of her.

Grinluff hadn't been the nicest of sorts, but he had given her everything that was a part of her House. It was also one of the reasons she was here now, seeking out Grace's advice. Having gone over the four folders she had gotten, she felt as if Grace's complaints were a little...embellished.

The first folder had contained all the information on her accounts that she could possibly want. She had a list of twenty-eight investments, three vaults that she would need to see to, and some stock options that she didn't have a clue what to do with.

The second folder was a list of all the properties she, as the new Lord McKinnon, now owned. The first was the ancestral House and couldn't be sold or bartered or given away under any circumstances. Aside from that she had one small cottage on the sea and felt that was more than enough.

The third folder was a file on the Wizengamot and the history of the McKinnon voting history, its leanings, and any and all alliances made over the years. Which also naturally included three blood feuds and a stern warning to never, under any circumstances, make a deal with the Parkinson’s. At least now she knew where she got it.

The fourth and final file was a file on her house-elves. _House. Elves_. She owned seven. _Owned_. That had made her almost pitch a fit and she had been particularly stroppy for the past few days, but her magic had absolutely rebelled against setting them free. She knew she needed more information now, with how her magic was actually preventing her from action, which lead her right back to Grace.

"Did you ask for all the files?" Grace asked with a look Hermione decidedly did not appreciate.

"No.” Hermione said slowly. “These were the files I was handed to by Grinluff."

Grace pulled a face and Hermione braced for the worst. "You're going to have to go back and ask them for all the full files pertaining to your House."

"Why? I thought this was it?" Hermione asked, as she brandished one of the files towards Grace. A file that had plenty of information, thank you very much.

"That's likely just an overview of everything. One for the house-elves, one for your vaults, one for your properties, and one for your financial investments."

"And? Isn't that what I need?"

"Maybe if you had proper Heir training and where taking over from your father, but you're taking over a dead line that's been dormant for who knows how long. You need the in-depth stuff so you can familiarize yourself with your House or else the little stuff will come back to haunt you later and to do that you need all the files, not the summary."

"I forgot that you'd already been through all this." Hermione said on a sigh, deflating a little as she stared at the small stack in front of her. She hadn't even considered that, simply trusted that Grinluff had given her everything of importance and everything she'd need in order to properly run her new titled House.

"Trust me, I wish I hadn't. Goblins are a handful, I swear." Grace complained.

Feeling a bit irritated, she sniped back a little. "Yes, I've heard you."

Grace put her hands over her heart and moaned in offense. "Lovely, try to help a friend out and she insults you!"

Hermione giggled at her antics, some of her stress falling off of her just by that simple laugh. "It's not an insult if it's true." She taunted.

Grace’s mouth dropped open in feigned shock. "See if I ever help you again!"

"You're a handful, you know that right?" Hermione said with a grin, grateful and heartened that her best friend could help her like this, even with everything going on in their lives.

"Pssshh, I prefer prime entertainment, thank you."

"So I have to ask for all of the files separately or just all of the files in one?" Hermione asked, getting back on track since this was important information that she really ought to have had before she barged into an appointment for an inheritance test. Never. Again.

"Just say full files pertaining to your House." Grace advised, eyes drifting back to the parchment in front of her.

"And why didn't they give them to me straight away?" Hermione asked, wondering why on earth Grinluff wouldn't have given her everything. If he was her account manager, wouldn't it be in his best interest to give her everything? That was the only way she could make him more gold, wasn't it? So why would he try and set her up to fail?

"Because you didn't ask for them." Grace snorted.

"But how would I know to ask for them?" Hermione exclaimed outraged, disgusted at the very thought. How could you possibly know to ask for something that you didn't know existed? See, this was the very reason she needed to research things.

Grace shrugged. "Not their problem."

"It bloody well should be." Hermione mumbled. "What happens after?"

"After what? After you ask for the files and get them?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

"They give them to you and you spend the next few weeks going over every minuscule detail of your House while learning about the responsibilities you've accidentally-on-purpose dumped on yourself and then you go about sorting out your House and bringing it back to modern times. Well, as modern as you can get it at least."

"Right.” Hermione said slowly, with a small sigh as she tried to figure out the best time to go back. “That was a ringing endorsement."

"Speak to me once you get the files back." Grace bit out, clearly at the end of her tether. Thankfully a chime sounded and Grace checked her watch, a sure sign it had something to do with James since Grace usually kept to her own time during the summer.

"Time to go?" Hermione asked, already shuffling her files together and wondering if she couldn't nip off to Gringotts today.

"Time to go." Grace agreed.

"Do you know where he's taking you?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "No, he said he wanted it to be a surprise. Have you heard anything from Krum yet or is waiting a day for an answer wishful thinking?"

While she liked that Grace had remembered, she also disliked that Grace had remembered and felt her ears heat up in embarrassment. She busied herself by picking up her folders and took a moment to compose herself before turning back to Grace.

"Well, so far I've only written his father as head of the family and the person I'll be negotiating the contract with. I'm not allowed to contact Victor directly yet until we get the basics out of the way."

"So that's a 'no' then?" Grace laughed lightly.

"Not exactly. I've gotten letters from his father and mother and we're trying to sort out the details, but they're both really happy with the contract so I don't think it will take too long before we're allowed to court."

Grace nodded in acceptance. "What about your parents?"

"What about my parents?" Hermione asked with narrowed eyes and a warning in her voice. It was bad enough that she'd sent them a letter and hadn't heard anything back yet, but it sounded like Grace was trying to imply that she should cut off her parents now. Something she would _never_ do.

"Nothing like that, Merlin. How does it all work with your parents being muggles? I mean, you're the Head of your House and technically of age, but your parents are still alive but they're not magical."

"Oh. Well, technically speaking they don't have a say in my life since I took up the McKinnon Lordship, but since they are my parents they'll still be involved because, and I'm not sure about this, I'll need their parental approval for the final stage of Courtship." And wasn't that just a headache or two to understand. As long as you had one living relative in your line while you were underage when you started your Courtship period, then that family member would have to approve the union in case (as a minor) you were being taken in. It was an old rule, but one that was still enforced.

"Which means you'll need the Krum's approval as well." Grace surmised. "Glad I don't have to deal with that."

Hermione lifted an eyebrow in hefty judgement, already knowing that Grace didn't know how important this information would be to her. "You do realize that you have a parent that's alive as well right?"

"Yes. And?"

"You'll probably need his consent." Hermione pointed out, even as she wanted to shake her head in exasperation. Trust Grace to grasp the concept but ignore the finer details. This was going to come back to bite her in the arse.

Grace scoffed. "Maybe if he knew I was his daughter, but since he doesn't it won't work like that."

Hermione raised her eyes to the heavens in exasperation. "That's exactly how it works, and on top of that, magic will know."

"Know that my father who doesn't know he's my father hasn't given his blessing for his daughter to marry the man he despises above all else?" Grace asked sarcastically.

"You're being stubborn.” Hermione said flatly. “All I'm saying is that you'd better check it out before you plan your Bonding and then realize you can't actually bond because you never asked for your fathers blessing."

"Is this because you're worried about your own in-laws?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's not as bad as you're thinking. They're really very lovely people." Not that she'd know, having sent all of two letters and only receiving the one.

Grace snapped her fingers before pointing at her friend. "Oh, that reminds me, you should probably find out if your House has a personal attorney or not."

"Stop changing the subject." Hermione frowned at her. "You went from in-laws to attorneys? You know people can actually like their in-laws right?"

Grace shrugged. "I'm not avoiding anything, it just popped in my head since it was something I hadn't known and it wasn't really written anywhere."

"What does it matter if I do have a House attorney?"

"Well, you might be insulting the firm or person if you get into trouble and don't use them. Also, as a female and Head of your House, it's probably smart to get an attorney to look over any contract. Just in case."

"That...makes sense. And is good advice." Hermione allowed, silently starting to worry. What else would be in those extensive files that she had missed? The more she thought about it, the angrier she was getting at the goblins for their terrible service.

"I hate you." Grace grumped.

Hermione grinned unrepentantly. "Did you do that for your own contract?"

"With James?" Grace asked. "Not in the way you're thinking. We wrote the contract together and signed it before I sent it off to my attorneys to make it legal."

"Is that legal?" Hermione questioned incredulously.

"Dunno. My attorneys sent me some very strong worded letters that if I ever did something like that again, they'd bar me from being allowed to sign anything ever again without their say-so."

Hermione nodded sagely, knowing that the only way to get through to Grace sometimes was strongly worded almost-threats. "Well, they're not wrong."

"I will hit you. Hard. With strong intent." Grace threatened darkly.

Hermione nodded her head even as she dismissed the threat out of hand. "Speaking of, I've got a question I can't find the answer to."

Grace gapped. "That's what you got out of my threat?"

"It reminded me." Hermione shrugged. "And you can't judge." She pointed out, remembering all the times Grace liked to jump from subject to subject. Frankly, it was exhausting sometimes and privately she was grateful that James was around to soak up all that extra energy that spilled out of Grace sometimes. And why did she know that? She'd never noticed that before. Was that normal?

"It's only because I like you, really." Grace declared dramatically, bringing Hermione back to the conversation.

"Thing is, after I accepted the House and Lordship, my magic has been a little..." Hermione hesitated, diving right in but not quite knowing the right words to explain what was happening to her. Wondering if her friend had felt the same things after her inheritance or this just happened to be a side effect of a muggleborn gaining a Pureblood House.

"Overwhelming?" Grace finished helpfully.

"Yes!" Hermione breathed out gratefully. "Is that something common? Did that happen to you?"

"As far as I can tell it happens to everyone who gains a House or is part of a House."

Hermione frowned and pondered that for a moment. The amount of magic she had felt had been oppressive, almost to the point that it could have suffocated her right there in Grinluff's office. Now that she was out and around, away from the shock and oversensitivity of the moment, she couldn't help but notice that everything around her lived and breathed magic. It surrounded her on a daily basis and reached out at her every second she wasn't concentrating. It was also extremely exhausting, seeing all that magic around her, feeling it, and wondering if this was what it was going to be like for the rest of her life. On the other hand, she'd never felt more secure in her magic and her place in the Wizarding world before. It simply felt..._right_, right in a way she had been fundamentally missing all these years and she couldn't help but wonder at why that was.

"Any theories?" She asked finally.

"Not so much that could be investigated no, but I think that once you accept the responsibilities of a House you become connected to the magic that ties it together. Sort of like a special brand of family magic that ties you closer to the roots of magic because every generation adds their own magic to the line." Grace said slowly

"So me, as a muggleborn, would never have felt this feeling?" Which she hadn't, not until she took up the mantle of her House.

Grace nodded. "It puts a distance between you and the purebloods because they can feel magic in a way you couldn't."

"Which is probably the main point in the strife between purebloods and muggleborns." Hermione added thoughtfully, speculating if things would have gotten bad enough for her to want to leave or if she would have continued to fight until her dying breath.

On the other hand, if this theory was sound then it would mean that if she got married to a wizard with a Wizarding family, that his magic would envelope her because she was now tied to their line. Then again it would also probably depend on what kind of ceremony was used during the bonding, which meant that the issue ran far deeper than Grace was suggesting and probably had a far more complicated explanation than the one she was giving.

"Probably way back when, now its just prejudiced shite."

"Probably." Hermione said with a distracted chuckle. "So a muggleborn would never feel the magic I'm feeling now and, what? Always wonder why they were on the outs?"

Grace hummed. "I had wondered about that and maybe? Because if you have a daughter with another muggleborn then you kind of start your own House. Not in any tangible or legal way, but your magic and his magic created this little being and their magic now has roots."

A thought that had merit, but not something that would have been achievable in one lifetime, let alone two. Added to that, the line would continuously have to marry another muggleborn for that theory to hold water, something you would only do if were intent on testing it. "So it would be more stable than mine?"

"Not more stable, but maybe more connected in a way you aren't."

"Interesting. So each subsequent generation would feel closer to magic until the time my muggleborn line would feel what I'm feeling." Which was again, a sound theory, just one that could never be proven and unlikely to happen in the way that Grace was suggesting it.

Grace nodded. "That's my theory."

"It's an interesting one." Hermione nodded in agreement, wondering what had made Grace think of it in the first place. "How did you come to these conclusions?"

Because, truth be told, Grace already had lines in the Wizarding world. She had a line with Professor Snape and a line to the Blacks. While the Gryffindor line was a surprise, Hermione doubted that the overwhelming power of pure magic, of line and House magic, had affected Grace the same way it had Hermione. In that sense, Grace would already have had more magic in her blood than Grace and would have felt a closer connection to the magical world than Hermione had.

Then again, Hermione had that line as well even though hers was diluted through the years. Did that mean that Grace's connections were stronger, thus putting her closer to her family magics or just that the family magic in Hermione had been so focused on the main line that it hadn't considered her part of the family until she claimed it for her own? Something to ponder on, when she had more time.

"Not a conclusion, per se, more a running theory. It started when I saw all the layers of magic at Grimmauld Place, then in Diagon Alley, and it sort of cemented at the Ministry of Magic."

"Why on earth there?" Hermione asked in surprise, not even remembering herself the layers of magic in Diagon Alley after she had claimed her own inheritance.

"Because there's so much magic layered on top of magic that you're practically breathing magic, but the magic was different. With Grimmauld Place you could feel what type of magic it was and you could sense where it came from."

Hermione hummed in thought, caught by the idea that she wouldn't be as sensitive in her own house. "But maybe that's because you own it now. Well, because you're the Lord of House Black I mean."

Grace nodded. "Could be, but that just proves my theory. I'm connected to it, so it resonates for me."

"And the magic in the Ministry didn't?"

Grace cocked her head in thought. "Not the way family magic does. It was more an acknowledgement of the amount of magic it had taken to keep the Ministry in tact."

"Interesting." Hermione mumbled, seeing connections flair up and some wither up even as she continued to think through the possibilities "I wonder if there's any sort of research done on the subject." It would probably have helped them both a great deal, probably would have helped a load of muggleborns before and after them come to think of it.

Grace shrugged. "Maybe. But if you grew up with it your whole life and muggleborns can't see or feel it, why would you?"

Hermione frowned at that singularly depressing notion. "That's a silly thought. Haven't you ever wondered how something works? Like a battery or the telly?"

"Not really. They just worked." Grace shrugged.

"Heathen." Hermione said on a loud sigh knowing she'd get nothing more from her friend for the day. “I'm going to look it up, there's bound to be something on the subject.”

"You do that, I have a date to get ready for." Grace said as she wiggled her eyebrows, making Hermione laugh as they parted ways.

As Hermione headed back up the stairs to her temporary room she couldn't help but question the changes in her life. Changes she had imparted all on her own, but such startling changes that she wondered if her life had always meant to guide her this way or Grace had been the very push she needed to make a choice between the Wizarding world and the muggle one.

Never mind that. Such deep thoughts had no place in her busy life, not now that she had to find a way to get Grinluff to get the real folders concerning her House to her as quickly as possible. Since she heavily doubted she'd be let out of the house again without an armed guard (and how did Grace manage all those trips without one?), she would have to settle for sending an owl and being as precise as possible. She had really hoped Grace had been wrong about the goblins, but as per usual when Grace said anything, the grain of truth was just a little bit too truthful for her to swallow easily.

***------***

House Krum,

Kostadin Krum

Greetings Mr. Krum,

Thank you for your swift reply and my greetings and fond regards to your wife. I feel most elated and hopeful knowing that you would approve of our union.

I feel it is important to tell you that, as you may have understood from my previous letter, that my parents are muggles. As the last living relatives of my blood, they (my mother in particular) will be my chaperones if we progress to the Courtship stage. I would only request that my parents be left unaffected by magic during that time.

As to your negotiations, I have listed a draft of my expectations and await any revisions or corrections as you see fit.

  1. There shall be no relations with other individuals outside of our marriage or during our Courtship.
  2. There shall be no separate rooms/ we shall reside together in one room
  3. He will have a job or, outside of that, a hobby that would stimulate body and mind, as would I.
  4. We shall have two children.
  5. Considering our locations, we shall spend any great holidays with one another until Courtship is over, thereafter splitting our time between the two families.
  6. We shall meet once a month for our Courtship dates, chaperones included.
  7. We shall not employ any house-elves.
  8. We shall do the cooking and cleaning ourselves, taking turns either each week or each day.
  9. There will be no intimate relations until our after our bonding vows.
  10. Kissing and handholding will be permitted during the Courtship period.
  11. I am the Lord of House McKinnon and will not pass this over to my husband.
  12. Our firstborn child, regardless of sex, will inherit the title.
  13. Our children will attend school in England.

Please relay my delight to Viktor for our potential match, I look forward to our meeting. I have very much missed our correspondence and, with your blessing sir, would like to continue them once our negotiations have passed.

Kind regards,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon

***------***

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

I have received your expectations. This is my counter.

  1. Agree.
  2. Agree.
  3. Only if he wishes it, you shall not enforce this. To counter any arguments an amendment: If he should not work for over a year and stay at home doing nothing, you may encourage him to find outside pursuits, unless his desire is to stay close to the children, in which case it is null and void.
  4. You shall have at minimum six children.
  5. All great holidays will be spent with family - either here in Bulgaria or there in England. No negotiations.
  6. Agreed.

7 & 8. House elves will be used for housekeeping and cooking duties. No negotiations.

  1. Agreed.
  2. Agreed.
  3. My son shall be involved in the running of the estate but will leave the final say to you. This will be a partnership. You will be the Head of the House, but he will still be the man of the House and you will award him the tasks and obligations of a gentleman in his position.
  4. Agreed.
  5. Your firstborn will attend school in England as is just for its future position, the other children are free to make their own decisions when the time comes.
  6. Intimate relations shall be instigated at least twice a week for a healthy marriage, one of which will be instigated by you.
  7. We require weekly letters of your lives, regardless of nothing happening.

My wife is very pleased with your list and has included a recipe for one of her favourite dishes. Please indulge her and study it, for she will want to cook it with you when we meet. Viktor is eager to speed up the process, but Quidditch has thankfully taken up most of his time.

Sincerely,

Kostadin Krum

Lord of House Krum

***------***

Dearest Hermione,

Love, what exactly do you mean by saying you're no longer a Granger? I have never seen your father lose his temper like that before, and I must say that I had quite a difficult time calming him down since I was quite unsettled by the news myself. You've given us a rather large amount of information without giving us any information at all and I do have to say that we're rather worried for you. Are you quite all right? We really do not know what to make of this, so please do send us another letter explaining what you mean in greater detail.

It is great to hear a bit more about my ancestors, of course, but I'm ever so concerned for you and what this has done for your future.

Are we losing you?

All our love,

Mum and dad.

***------***

Goblins were terrible creatures. Absolutely terrible. She was also never going to tell Grace she was right, because pride. She had asked (nicely ordered) Grinluff to send her the complete and full files pertaining to her House. She had gotten a prompt reply and a shrunken box for her efforts. A box that had expanded to three times its size and file after file had been taken from its depths.

The first folder, the original one that held the bare bones of information concerning her accounts, was actually far more detailed than she could have ever thought. Aside from owning the three vaults that she would have to go through eventually, she was also now the proud owner of 684,231.54 galleons. It was a small fortune and she could happily admit to having shed another round of tears at the amount, knowing that she would have the freedom of searching for a job without the pressure of money spurring her on. It was a luxury she hadn't been expecting and another weight lifted she hadn't realized had been pressing down on her.

Nevertheless, the file had continued. The twenty-eight investments were companies that she would have to comb through in great detail since the first of the twenty-eight had gone bankrupt during the first war with Voldemort in the 1980's. Carefully going down the list, Hermione had the grim realization that more than one of those 'investments' had died a hard death around the same time. In fact, only three of those investments still stood strong today and that was mostly due to the fact that they were in the muggle world.

According to the notes, they were businesses run and operated by muggleborns who still kept a foot in both worlds and offered others the same opportunity. The only reason they still stood was the fact that Voldemort hadn't gotten around to smashing them to smithereens yet. Right, the first thing she would have to do was to cancel the contracts (that for some unfathomable reason were still active) and see if it was still worth it to invest in the remaining three businesses.

Lastly, there were her stock options. She was honest enough with herself to know that she hadn't been able to make hide or hair of what was in front of her and she would need to seek outside council to figure out what it all meant. Going back to the goblins was not an option.

The folder that listed her two properties were (thankfully) still just the two. The difference was the general upkeep of both properties (along with a long and detailed list of everything that was considered part of the property) and the wards that had been set (not including family wards and magic since even the goblins weren't privy to that). The ancestral home of the McKinnon’s was in pretty good shape, all things considered. The wards were active and all seemed well. The small cottage on the sea wasn't a cottage at all, it turned out. It was a three-story mansion that held the whole family every summer during the holidays. According to the file, it was abandoned during the war, thus making the wards slowly loose power. Nothing that couldn't be fixed, but the state of the house was in slight disrepair. Again, nothing that couldn't be fixed but Hermione was going to have to get someone out there to check the house just in case. She wasn't going to step foot in there if it wasn't structurally sound.

The third folder was a file on the Wizengamot and the history of the McKinnon voting history, its leanings, and any and all alliances made over the years. In great detail. As in, _all_ the detail. There were so many notes and so much information that for the first time in her life, Hermione Granger actually feared studying. She also wasn't quite sure if all this history was quite necessary for her to learn considering her line had died out and she knew nothing of their ways. She was here to make her own way, not be dragged down by a history that wasn't hers. In the same breath, she understood that alliances were important to House ties and that if she had any minor Houses under her umbrella that she actually would need to take those into account. Frankly, the whole thing was a bloody mess. Which led to blood feuds. Unsurprisingly, considering the warning she laughed at earlier, she had a blood feud with House Parkinson, along with House Hilliard, and House Wenlock.

All three were permanent persona non-grata until the time they made amends (for what she had no idea since she couldn't find a single piece of paper that explained anything further). She'd have to look into that later.

Finally, the fourth file containing her house-elves was thankfully easier to handle. Corym, Flinar, Hastos, Celecorn, Bele, Fledy, and Deld were all far too happy to see her for her liking. After continuously asking after their health (both physical and mental) she was assured they were perfectly fine and healthy. The ancestral house apparently had some built in magic that put the elves into stasis until Hermione claimed her place. Something that sent shivers down her spine because what would have happened to them if she hadn't done that? It didn't bare thinking of so she quickly moved on (and past several bouts of crying, dear Morgana house-elves were dramatic). She decided the best thing to do was pull a Grace and kindly order them to clean the McKinnon home before moving on to see what they could make of the house by the sea. Having seven extremely overjoyed house-elves hugging the life out of you wasn't an experience Hermione ever thought she'd have. Which also made keeping them easier to swallow when it came to her Courtship negotiations.

The one thing she was most interested in was the history of the McKinnon line. She wanted to know her (sort of) family's history. Sadly, there was frightfully little that she could find on the subject. The one she knew the most about was Marlene McKinnon and that was because she went to school with Sirius, James, and Grace's mother. They, the whole family, were apparently murdered by Death Eaters in July of 1981. That was it. That was all the information she had on her family. All right, she had her family tree and the basics (names, birth dates and deaths) but other than that there was absolutely nothing to be found. Hermione came to the slow realization that most of the information she wanted would be considered as House information and was thus in the ancestral home, waiting for her to go through it all. This was both frustrating, as she couldn't get to it any time soon, and a relief, knowing she still had so many other things to put to rights first.

All in all it was both far more frustrating than she had planned and far more rewarding than she could have imagined. One thing was certain at least: Grace would never learn of the truth about her true feelings on the goblin nation.

***------***

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon,

Hermione Jean Granger nee McKinnon,

In regards to your request concerning a Courtship contract between House McKinnon and the Most Noble House of Longbottom I must inform you that it has been denied.

Do not send a reply.

Dowager Longbottom,

Most Noble House of Longbottom.

***------***

House Krum,

Kostadin Krum

Greetings Mr. Krum,

Thank you for your swift reply. I have already made your wife's recipe three times and must admit to having done something wrong for it has burnt twice and failed to cook a third time. I fear I am at a loss and need assistance from your wife, who no doubt knows all the tricks to master this recipe. I look forward to being taught.

As to your adjustments of my expectations, here is my reply.

  1. Agree.
  2. I shall have at minimum four children. Non-negotiable.
  3. Agree

7 & 8. Agree, reluctantly.

  1. Agree.
  2. House McKinnon is British and as such, my children will need the knowledge of how to run a House in case of emergency or tragedy. As such, they must attend Hogwarts.
  3. Any intimate relations shall be discussed between my husband and myself.
  4. Agree. I will require one letter in return to every letter sent.

Kind regards,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon

P.S. Please relay my congratulations to Viktor on his win this past weekend. I can only hope the bludger to his arm did no permanent damage and that he is already happily on the mend.

***------***

Hello Mum and Dad,

I suppose I could have worded it better than I had. I'm terribly sorry for any upset I caused, I was very much in turmoil myself over everything that had happened and in such a short amount of time so I do hope you'll forgive me. Mum. Dad. You're not losing me, not in any way. I've sent you some books to better explain exactly what I've been trying to say and I hope they do a sight better than my poor explanation.

To put it in as simple terms as possible: I am now a prominent figure in the Wizarding world. I have status and a voting seat in one of the most important institutions. I could actually make a difference here, I could change the world! Maybe not all the world, but the one that could mean something in our corner of the world at the very least. It's more than I ever expected and I can only hope that I'll be given a chance to do just that.

I should probably also point out that this in no way affects my grades or anything to do with school at all. I am, legally, not allowed to do anything or begin doing anything until I'm of age and have an education behind me. More than that, I've never once planned to refocus my attention on anything but school for the moment. I will learn everything I need to do so when the time comes I'll be prepared, but other than that I can assure you that it won't take any time away from my education.

On a completely different topic, and please read the books I sent along on this subject as well, the Wizarding world has a fairly antiquated (depending on where you live of course, since India, amongst others, still does this as well) notion of marriage. It's actually quite interesting, seeing as they first used it as a safe guard for underage girls not to be taken advantage of, which really isn't the point of course. The point is that I sent out two requests for a Courtship (please see book three on that) and while one declined, the other accepted. Sort of accepted.

We're really close to accepting. So I'll be seriously dating him for however long we decide, and actually, you should remember him. He's Viktor Krum, the sports star. I was writing to him all last summer if you remember.

I should let you read the books and hopefully you'll understand better after.

All my love,

Always your daughter,

Hermione.

***------***

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Viktor has not stopped being happy for the past three days. He frequently asks to see your letter again. I am pleased you are interested in his life, this is a good beginning.

I have read over your reply and send this back.

  1. Four children. Agreed.
  2. The first and second born are acceptable, but they will also have a Bulgarian history they will need to know. They come from two countries and to deny that is crazy.
  3. No. As his father and Head of House it is my duty to ensure that you both understand what is required and expected of you in a relationship. Sexual intercourse is a part of that. Not only that but you must both come to an agreement of what is comfortable for both of you. I state again: at least twice a week.
  4. Acceptable.

Fondly,

Kostadin Krum

Lord of House Krum

_Attached to letter a small note:_

Skupa Hermione,

My husband told me of your attempts and I cannot be more happy to have you join this Yule with us. I look very much forward to it and am pleased you seem to enjoy trying out new things.

My Viktor has always lost himself to his sport and while I encouraged him to follow his dreams I am even more pleased that he will one day give me grandchildren. We cannot wait to make your acquaintance properly.

-Mira

***------***

“What's put that look on your face then?” Grace asked as she slid in next to her, breakfast in full swing as Hermione finished reading the latest letter from Kostadin.

“A letter from Viktor's father. “

“And that made you smile?” Grace asked, doubt heavy in her voice.

Hermione rolled her eyes as she put the letter aside and grabbed some bread. “They're not monsters.”

“Never said they were.” Grace stated as she pulled the eggs towards her.

“You implied it heavily. Just because James is a nightmare, doesn't mean they all are.”

“James is not...he's a little...it wasn't even about James!” Grace spluttered in outrage.

Hermione hid her smile by taking a bit of her sandwich, ignoring Grace's loud huff. “Viktor's father is a little gruff in his letters. It took me a while before I realized he just wasn't too strong in his English so he keeps it short and simple.” She relented after finishing her bite.

“And that's what made you smile?”

“No, Viktor's mother sent a small note to me as well. I'm just...I'm really happy I'm getting this chance.” Hermione said softly, putting down her sandwich and running her finger of the edge of the table.

“Is this about that letter you got from Neville's grandmother?” Grace asked shrewdly.

Hermione winced. “A little? It was so short and rude, and you know she put Granger on there to take a dig at me.”

"Neville did say his grandmother was the worst. His confidence when he got here said even more." Grace said as she looked at Neville, who sat a few seats away and was happily chatting to Dean and Seamus.

"She didn't have to be so mean about it." Hermione mumbled.

"I think she's just a witch." Grace said, suddenly grinning widely. "Pun intended."

Hermione laughed lightly. "That was terrible."

"So." Grace asked leadingly. "How are negotiations going then? Is he still going on about the sex?"

"Yes, he's still going on about the sex. Which is off-putting for a number of reasons, but he gave me an explanation of why he thought it was important this time around."

"So he's fixed it then?"

Hermione grunted around a mouth full of bread. "No." She replied after she swallowed. "Just because I understand his reasoning’s doesn't mean I agree with them. I think that something that I should be discussing with Viktor and, personally, I feel like putting a requirement on intimate moments puts more stress on a relationship than if you just let it flow naturally. Besides, I don't think he's quite thought through his idea. Can you imagine us at 80 still having sex twice a week?"

"Oh gross!" Grace complained. "Why would you do that to me?"

Hermione grinned maliciously. "Payback. But also, sharing is caring."

"Sharing less is caring more. What about the rest of his family? You said his mother added a note for you? Do they write you too?"

“Once or twice. His sisters have written to me as well. “

“His sisters? I didn’t know he had any siblings.” Grace said soft with some confusion.

“Well, once it's official they'll be my family as well and I'd like to get to know them better.”

“Older or younger?”

“Younger than him but around our age. Sofia is fifteen and Katerina is seventeen.”

“And suddenly I'm extremely glad I didn't have to do that with James. At least it was always just him and his parents had died during the first war.”

“That's incredibly depressing. Besides, just wait until you have to ask Professor Snape for approval.” Hermione said pointedly, hoping that Grace would pick up the fact that regardless of him knowing it or not, he was involved.

Grace snorted. “Never going to happen. It doesn't work like that.”

“Grace.” Hermione huffed out. “Just once I'd wish you would listen to me about this. You will need his permission to marry James. Despite you not wanting him to be, he is the last living member of your direct family and therefore actually does get a vote in your future since your underage.”

“But I'm already a Lord.” She pointed out with a huff.

“That's still in school and not technically allowed to do anything with that Lordship, just like me. Since you accepted his Courtship underage, you'll need your 'father's' permission, even if he doesn't know about it.”

“I'm not saying I believe you-“

“When do you ever?” She groused as she stabbed a piece of watermelon.

“-but if he doesn't know about it, then how would his approval even matter?”

“I never said it makes sense! Half the things that go on in the Wizarding world don't make sense but they still happen.” Hermione cried out in aggravation.

“All right, all right, let's not turn this into an argument. Back to your love life.” Grace said in a placating manner.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Oh that's so much better!”

“It is! It's got so little drama going on that it almost seems boring.” Grace insisted before catching Hermione's eyes, both girls dissolving into uncontrollable giggles that they had a hard time stopping. “Seriously though, it's all going well?” Grace asked once they caught their breaths.

“Yes, just getting through negotiations.” Hermione said on a nod.

“Are you going to meet them for the signing or just owl them?”

Hermione hummed in thought. “Once we get the contract all signed away we should probably have a face to face. Seeing and meeting each other at Chri-_Yule_ isn't the most ideal situation.”

“So you're thinking a Hogsmeade weekend?” Grace asked with a thoughtful look.

“It's an option. Me still being in Hogwarts puts a damper on international travel, especially since I don't think mum and dad would approve. “

“Wouldn't they have to join you as chaperones?”

“Which is why they wouldn't approve. Hey, Grace.” Hermione said as something else occurred to her.

“Hermione.” Grace replied back.

“The Wizengamot.”

“Is a thing.”

Hermione glared at Grace. “No, I meant, how does it work.”

“You haven't looked it up yet?” Grace asked her in surprise.

She had, but Grace had already been once and she was looking for a real life take on it instead of the written version. “I have, but I'm interested in how you perceived it.”

Grace grimaced and Hermione already knew she'd get next to nothing from her. “Why don't you just come with me?”

“Come with you?” She uttered in surprise. That was more than she'd ever hoped for, and truth be told, on of the cleverest things Grace could have said. She ought to have thought of it herself, all things considered, but her attention had been focused on other things. This was the best of all options and one that could really prepare her for the future.

Yes, there's another one open to the Heirs in just a few weeks. You can come with and experience the whole thing yourself. “I think I just might.”

“So you're ok now, what with Neville and all?” Grace asked, considering the previous topic closed.

Hermione sighed and glanced over at Neville before grabbing her bag and standing up, Grace following behind. “Yes and no? I mean, I'm more than a little crushed with how it all worked out and how absolutely cold his grandmother was and I can't help but wonder if that was partly him or just how it's done.”

“Probably a mixture of how it's done and his grandmother.” Grace tried to soothe her.

Hermione shrugged. “Maybe. But I've made an effort to close that chapter of my heart and focus on Viktor. I'm making a life with him and he's going to be my future. Neville...Neville is a great friend and an amazing person, he just isn't mine.”

“Possessive of you.” Grace said on a grunt.

“You know I didn’t mean it like that. And you're one to talk.” Hermione snorted as Grace laughed.

“Well. At least you're ok now.” Grace said as she gently bumped her should with Hermione’s in a show of support.

Hermione hummed and nodded but wondered, privately, if she really was. She'd thrown a lot of things at herself in the past few months and hadn't given herself the room to breathe and give everything a place like she normally would. The one thing she could be truthful about was letting go of her feelings for Neville. As much as she had realized that James' words hadn't come true in regards to Neville's behaviour, it had come true with his grandmother. At least she would never have to deal with that witch. Insult intended.

***------***

Dearest Hermione,

We've gotten your letter and the many, many books you sent with it. Instead of continuing this back and forth, we've had a word with your headmaster and he's agreed to let us come by before Christmas to sort this all out. Don't worry about it; we've set it all up. Please be ready on December 17th after classes.

All our love,

Mum and dad.

***------***

House Krum,

Kostadin Krum

Greetings Mr. Krum,

Please read below the final changes in our negotiations.

  1. Acceptable, but there will be no pressure on any of the children to make a choice.
  2. I recognise that it is important to set guidelines for a healthy and happy marriage but they should be just that, guidelines. This is also something that should primarily be discussed with Viktor, and only possibly secondary as his Head of House, you.

I would also like to ask if, once the negotiation period has passed, if we could all set up a time for a physical meeting before our official meeting after Yule. Please relay to your son and your wife that I cannot wait to spend the holidays with my future family.

Happily,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon

***------***

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

I am pleased with the final terms we have set and have sent a final contract for you to sign. Please return quickly as Viktor has turned into a brat.

Fondly,

Kostadin Krum

Lord of House Krum

_Attached to letter a small note:_

My Hermione,

I have greatly missed our correspondences these past months and wait impatiently for the time that father agrees to our contract.

Yule cannot come fast enough,

Your Viktor.

***------***

Viktor,

Thank you so much for your note; I can't express how happy I was to hear that I had a contract with your family. I have greatly missed our conversations and hope we can continue them until we meet again.

Although I am happy, I must ask if you will be all right with this. You'll be leaving your whole family behind and moving to an entirely new country. What about your family? Your friends? And your Quidditch career? I will not ask you to ever give that up.

I asked your father in my last letter if he was amenable to an earlier, more relaxed, meeting before Yule as a simple get together. He has happily accepted and we shall meet in Hogsmeade on December 18th. My parents have rented a room for the weekend and I have no other demands on my time.

I cannot wait to see you once more.

Hopefully,

Hermione Jean McKinnon,

Lord of the Noble House of McKinnon

***------***

“Let me get this right. You told Viktor about Slughorn's party and he was all 'that's probably not a great idea' so you went all 'but I need to show my face for House reasons' and then he went 'still don't like it' so you said 'I'll go with someone who's already in a contract so that makes me safe' and then he said 'that might be worse, but ok' and now you're here telling me all this because he told you to get a chaperone.” Grace asked calmly, speaking slowly and clearly to make sure she got all the details right.

“How do you survive?” Hermione wondered idly.

Grace shrugged carelessly. “Badly. So he wants you to bring a chaperone now as extra protection?”

“Yes,” Hermione said on a strong nod, “and I was wondering if you could be mine.”

“You do realize that you're mine, right?” Grace pointed out with a _look_.

Hermione blinked in confusion. “I am?”

“You practically pushed me into James' arms so I would go to this ridiculous thing.” Grace said in exasperation, which wasn’t exactly a lie. Hermione would be damned if she missed this and she was dragging Grace along with her for moral support.

“Hardly means you can't be my chaperone.” She pointed out.

“I suppose not. Unorthodox though. And a little unwise.” Grace added, as the various problems seemed to occur to her the more she thought of them. “And probably dangerous since I have to pick James up in the Entrance Hall and you'll presumably meet your date somewhere else. Anything could happen really, and you wouldn’t be able to prove otherwise.”

“As long as I have one, I'm sure it will be fine. Besides, you're Grace Potter. Who would go against you?”

“Besides the Ministry, most of the school, a teacher here and there?” Grace said, ticking off her fingers as she went down the list.

Hermione sighed and shook her head, knowing she should have seen that coming. “I don't know why I say these things to you.”

“Funny.” Grace deadpanned. “So do you know who you're going with then?”

“I have an idea...” Hermione said slowly as she thought it out. “Well, I have two but I need to do a little more research before I choose which one.”

“Of course you do. And this has nothing to do with Lavender said?” Grace asked.

“Lavender who?” Hermione feigned.

“Right. You know she's full of it right? She was just jealous.”

“Like she needs to be jealous.” Hermione grumbled, meanly thinking that if she had just a few more brain cells she might have actually been a decent person.

Grace laughed at that. “You've gone mental, you know that right? Not only did you gain a whole titled House and put yourself way above her on the social scale, you're also in an extremely coveted Courtship.”

Hermione really tried not to judge, but it was hard not to. “Is that all she really cares about?”

“That's all everyone cares about. You've no idea the amount of power you now have.”

Hermione sighed. “Still. She was being a bitch about it.”

“So get her back for it.” Grace shrugged. “Just be sure to tell Viktor of your true intentions before you wind up doing something crazy like asking Ron to be your plus one.”

“Eurgh!” Hermione uttered as she pulled a repulsed face. “I think I have better standards than that! No, if I want this to work, I'll have to be really sneaky about it and get someone Lavender really likes. And I always tell Viktor the truth. You might want to try that with James.”

“Uh-huh.” Grace snorted, ignoring the jibe. “Just be careful with that. The people Lavender likes aren't usually the fastest brooms on the pitch, if you know what I mean.”

“_Grass_ knows what you mean.” Hermione said on a smile she tried to hide. “I'll be careful. It will be fine, I'll make sure of it.” And Lavender would smother herself in eternal jealously for the rest of her life, Hermione thought vindictively as the very boy she was thinking of turned the corner. Time to put her plans in action.

***------***

Moyat maluk snitch ,

Thank you for wishing me luck on my last game, it helped a great deal since I won. Ivan sent a bludger to the other team’s seeker which clipped his shoulder, giving me just enough time to take the snitch from under his nose. It was glorious. It was a rather short game at only three hours, but the crowds were good and the game was violent.

Sofia would like to know if Grace Potter is willing to help her with her Defence against the Dark arts lessons when we meet on the 18th and Katerina demands to know if you know any decent available men. Tell her no, papa is having a hard enough time trying to get the boys away from her here, he will loose all his hair if he has to watch them in England as well. майка has been trying every recipe she has ever made in preparation for your arrival and asks if there is anything you don’t like. Tell her no plums, I very much dislike them.

I enjoyed hearing all about Grace’s terrible luck and how you must help her or she falls into terrible trouble. From what I remember Grace was very powerful and knowledgeable, but also prone to anger when dealing with people. She is lucky to have a great friend in you.

We are coming in two weeks time and it is difficult for me to wait such a long time. I can only pray that magic will speed up time so that we may lay our eyes on each other faster. I have also included a book on Arithmancy that I thought would help you in your class.

Please enjoy the party you must go to and remind your date that I will kill him if he touches you. If in doubt, don’t go. There will be other parties where you can go with me there to protect you.

Lyubov,

Viktor.

P.S. Write back quickly, I want to hear from you once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I made some of details here a bit more expansive because I figure Hermione would be paying more attention to them whereas Grace would deal with it as it comes so wouldn't necessarily notice them until they needed to be noticed. Also wanted to convey that Hermione gets taken in by the goblins more than Grace because Grace is cynical and combative whereas Hermione has grown up with trust and figures, as a business, they ought to be doing their jobs.  
I know the letters jumped a little at the end there, but I just wanted to show how they got on in such a short amount of time. Shall I do a meeting the parents one? I’m in two minds about it since I feel like I cut this a little short…


	12. I've Been Waiting a Long, Long Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Two chapters today, so if you're reading this and didn't know that, go back!  
Do not own anything JKR or Harry Potter!!!  
I’m going to be brutally honest here, I’ve had a really long day and I can’t be bothered to edit this, so if there are any mistakes floating around, I’ll probably get to it another day. For the sake of my poor brain, ignore them all!

They sat silently across from each other, for the first time not saying a word and letting the silence rest between them.

"The thing is," Grace started softly, "that neither of us are wrong and neither of us are right."

"Meaning what?" James asked with a politeness that was so utterly civil that it sounded like it had cost him a great deal of effort not to fly off the handle.

"Meaning that you won't ever admit to anything and I think I might be past caring."

"That sounds rather final."

"My whole life I've never really had anyone concretely listen to me until I met Hermione and Ron. They've had their moments, mind, but overall they were always there for me and backed me up in all the ways that were important to me."

"Alright." James stated slowly, trying to understand but clearly missing the point.

"I like you. I like you quite a lot and in the beginning it really frightened me, but I think now I'm starting to see that you're not one of the people who will always be there for me in the ways I need."

"I've always been there for you." James objected heavily as he frowned at her words.

Grace nodded. "In the ways you've decided I needed, not the ways I actually need you."

James sucked in a deep breath before letting it out slowly. "I'm really trying my very best not to get angry, but it's taking a great deal of effort."

Grace leaned towards James, her face sad and earnest. "You keep deciding what's best for me and what I need. You've decided, and yes, I will accept that I did have a hand in the mess that happened with Voldemort but you won't even _consider_ the same. I like you, more than I've ever liked anyone before and the only thing I keep thinking is how much the real me means nothing to you."

"I'm sitting here with the real you. For Merlin's sake, I've been sat here arguing with the real you for months now!"

"You have, but how much of that was you trying to be right instead of you trying to fix our relationship?"

"This is hardly a one way street, you’ve had just as much of a hand in that as I have."

"I know I did, and now I'm putting a stop to it."

"I don't like where this is going."

"That's because I think I'm about to give you an ultimatum. And before you say anything, yes I know they're unfair and I don't like it very much either and I'll probably wind up giving you far too much leeway because I have no idea how to stop liking you or being around you but here we are."

"Alright. I'm listening."

"Either you stop making decisions for me and start making decisions with me, or I'm ending our Courtship."

James sucked in a harsh breath. "Grace."

Grace sighed and lifted her head to look at the ceiling. "I know."

"Are you-do you realize what you're saying?"

"Better than you could possibly understand." She said sadly, still focused on the ceiling.

"And you're still giving me that ultimatum?"

"James. We've spent months blaming each other; you've spent months ignoring your part in this whole mess because you've been determined to know better for me than I do. I don't want my whole life to revolve around fights like this where I keep having to defend myself against your actions. I want us to work together, I want us to work, but I can't be the only person who bends. You're going to break me and I'm not going to sit around and let you do it. I've told you time and again that you don't have the right to try and force me into something I don't want."

They let the silence fall between them again as they both took in the enormity of what she was saying.

"So where do we go from here?" James asked, unsure now and clearly not liking it.

"I don't know. I really don't know. All I do know is that I can't keep doing this. Our fight has lasted months. _Months_, James. Courtship is there to figure out if we're compatible and from we've both shown each other, I'm starting to doubt."

"Doubt what, exactly?" He asked sharply.

"Everything. I don't want to continue like we have but I also don't want to give in because that just means you'll keep doing this."

"Grace." James sighed before gently holding up a hand for her to stop when she was going to respond. "I didn't know you were feeling this way and I had no idea my actions were weighing on you as heavily as you've just shown."

"But I've told you they have."

James shook his head. "No, you've been angry at me and blamed me for the situation that caused this fight, but you've never outright said anything about your doubts. Yes we could have, _should have_, found a better way to communicate with each other but that doesn't negate the fact that your anger turned to something much more serious and you never let on."

"Communication works both ways." Grace pointed out. "And it's not like you've been open to anything other than your own truth."

"That's what I've been saying!" Hermione mumbled in frustration.

"It's not like you weren't thinking the same thing." Grace continued, ignoring their audience.

"I wasn't. I am not. This, between us, I've never had any doubts. I know that you are still whom I want and I have never wavered from that belief. The fact that our fight has caused you to doubt means that there are things that you haven't been telling me."

Grace nodded slowly as she contemplated how she should answer James. On the one hand, he was right, but on the other hand, she really had no intention of ever speaking of how her mind worked or how she worked through the things she worried about. It was also about trust and James had never shown her that her trust was safe with him. Why would she tell him anything when he had shown her that he would simply brush off her objections to do whatever he liked?

"What went on between the Dursley's and myself is strictly between them and me. I won't ever voluntarily discuss them with you."

"Now hang on just a moment." James protested as Grace cut him off with a stern look.

"No. That's not for you to stick your nose in. I know you're worried and I can, sometimes, appreciate your need to see me whole and happy, but they are not your business. Nor is my alleged abuse."

"_Abuse_?!" Hermione spluttered out in shock.

"_Alleged_. See, this is what I've been trying to say. And maybe that's on me, not knowing how to say the things I need to in a way that will make you understand why it rubs me the wrong way. You don't own me. I don't belong to you. I am my own person and I've chosen to be with you. I don't need you, you are not the air I breathe nor the food I need to eat. I _want_ you in my life but that doesn't mean you get to run around like a headless chicken and declare my whole self as broken and in need of fixing."

"I haven't!" James object, though his tone wavered in her steady regard.

"You have. That's what you've done with the abuse. You've made me into a victim you need to save, or worse, protect and take care of. It's not your job to take care of me; it's not your job to protect me. That's my job."

"Then I would have fired you for being lousy at it."

"James! This is my point. You're not listening to me because you feel you know better than what I'm telling you. _Hear me. I don't need you_. I save myself, I take care of myself, and I make sure to survive anything thrown at me. You've been here less than a year. Where were you in my first year when I face Voldemort the first time? How about my second when he popped back? Where were you when Sirius escaped prison and I was convinced he was after me? I didn't need you then and I don't need you now. What I need from you is to be able to stand by me and support my decisions, not jump in front of me and act as a human shield because you think I'm incapable."

"I don't think you're incapable."

"Then stop treating me like I am! Despite my age, I'm not a child. I haven't been one for a very long time and the more you treat me like someone who doesn't know her own mind and feelings, the more I'll resent you for it."

"I don't understand how I've been doing that, I only want to make sure that you are safe."

"Professor Dumbledore? How about how you handled Remus?" Grace pointed out, her patience fraying at the edges.

"What about Professor Dumbledore?"

"You've been obsessively suspicious about our meetings together, to the point where I had to ask you if you thought he was trying it on with me."

James wrinkled his nose. "Still disgusting." He muttered. "That wasn't why I was asking."

"And you never told me why."

"He's still apprehensive of me."

"Which has nothing to do with me." Grace pointed out.

"Perhaps not. I might be a bit suspicious, I will admit to that, but I've seen the way he looks at me and then the way he regards you. I worry that he'll try and find a way to come between us."

Grace slowly shook her head. "You idiot. You absolute _moron_."

"I beg your pardon!" James protested, scowling heavily at Grace.

"You just said I had to start being honest with you when you’re sat there and doing the exact same thing to me that I've apparently been doing to you. Communication goes both ways! Don't you think I might have been a little more open about what was going on if I knew you were worried about Professor Dumbledore coming between us? And maybe having a little faith wouldn't be too much to ask since I'm sure I'd know when I was being manipulated."

"The point of manipulation is that you don't know." James stated wryly.

"James." Grace reprimanded. "That's completely beside the point."

"Only a little." He muttered in a sullen tone.

"You two are the worst." Hermione sighed out.

"For a chaperone, you sure are mouthy." Grace huffed.

"Like you even know the duties of a chaperone." Hermione snorted. "But fine, I'll just go get a drink, shall I?" She snarked before noisily scraping her chair back and heading over to the bar.

"Alright, what about Remus?" Grace asked once Hermione was a safe distance away.

"What about Remus?"

"You had a problem with him."

"Of course I had a problem with him, he was trying to Court you."

"Something you didn't have a problem with until you did." Grace pointed out.

"I suppose it would seem odd, the way it all happened." James relented.

"Odd, possessive, practically the same thing." Grace said lightly with a shrug.

"Hilarious. I don't think I really realized that Remus was being serious about you until I understood he was. By that time, you had started to avoid him due to the revelation of his past actions and I found myself pleased with the turn of events. It came as a bit of a shock mind you, to see Remus as I'd always known him only a decade older trying it on with you."

"But you knew he was older." Grace protested.

"Logically, yes, emotionally, not so much. He was still Remus."

"Until..." Grace said leadingly.

"Until he kissed you. Until you were comfortable in his arms and his wolf started growling at me when I got too close."

"I didn't realize werewolves worked like that."

"They don't. Remus' does. Or at least, it does with me."

"So." Grace stated blandly, cutting through his bullshit. "You were a possessive bastard who didn't like seeing the woman you intended to Court being Courted by another."

James winced. "Yes, alright, fine, I didn't like a bit. It was all too easy to slip in between you two and claim you all to myself."

"For a year." Grace reminded him.

James smiled slowly. "If that's what you would like to believe."

Grace chose not to answer that smug statement. "Why didn't you just say you didn't like it?"

"And give you the opportunity to deny me? Perhaps even push you towards Remus because my actions are controlling and possessive? No, thank you."

"So instead you manipulated the situation and forced my hand-"

"I did not." James interjected hotly. "You and Remus were already on the outs and you had decided, without any of my input mind you, that you wanted nothing to do with Remus romantically."

"All right, fine, you didn't manipulate the whole thing. You definitely took advantage though."

"Of course I did. Wouldn't you have?"

Grace snorted. "Not like that I wouldn't have."

"So is this a start? Are we through fighting then?" James said after a small lapse in their conversation.

"A small start, maybe. We should just...take it slowly. Build us back up again without all the secrets and lies, yeah?"

"I cannot promise leaps and bounds of improvement with my behaviour." He warned. "It's part of who I am. I will attempt to curb some of the more persistent impulses but they won't just disappear now that we've spoken about it."

Grace nodded in acceptance. "I know. We got to the bottom of our problems but now we need to start sorting them out."

"And you're willing? No ultimatums?"

"I'm willing to work on us, no ultimatums, if you're willing to meet me half way."

“I’m willing to do a great many things, meeting you half way will be one of the easier things to do.” James said with a smile that was only mostly devious.

“Well,” Grace said on a sigh and with a small smile, “I suppose that’s a start.”

\---******---

"So." Fay stated with a blinding smile that was much too bright for a Sunday morning. "How did Quidditch try-outs go?"

"I want to die." Grace said before letting gravity do its thing and hitting her head on the table and letting it stay there. Partly because gravity had a stronger pull than she had expected and her forehead was definitely going to be red, but also because she was exhausted. “Remind me next year not to become captain. 'S not worth it.”

"That doesn't sound good." Fay said looking worried just as Hermione sat down next to her.

Hermione patted Fay on the back. "Don't mind her, she's being dramatic."

"Dramatic? Dramatic!" Grace objected, lifting her head and glaring at Hermione before turning to Fay. "Listen, half the bloody school was out there watching 'The Chosen One' choose her Quidditch team! I had people trying out from all Houses! And then they stayed to watch! It was a like a full on actual game!"

"Did you at least choose someone good?" Fay tried.

"Good is relative." Grace snorted. "I've got a couple of good possibilities but I've also got an arsehole who thinks the world of himself."

"Maybe eating lunch is safer." Fay said finally, admitting defeat in the face of Grace's stubbornness to lift her mood.

Hermione waved her hand in a nonchalant way. "Just ignore her, she'll perk up with some food in her."

"I'll perk you up with some food." Grace muttered back acerbically.

"Shut up and eat." Hermione ordered sternly as she shovelled some greens on Grace's plate. Grace glared at her but pulled some oven-roasted potatoes towards her and looked for some ham or chicken before happily digging into her lunch. The three girls ate quietly and enjoyed the waves of calm chatter around them, easing their moods into something lighter as they ate.

The rather peaceful afternoon meal was suddenly disrupted by an angry yell coming from just outside the Great Hall.

"What do you mean 'no'? No I won't keep my voice down! You made me promises, Draco Malfoy!"

Hermione and Grace caught each other's eye, eyebrows raised and interest sparking in both their eyes before giggling madly and rushing with a few other curious people to the doors, Fay right behind them. They peeked out only to find a small crowd already forming around Malfoy and Parkinson, the latter almost definitely red in the face and the former looking distinctly pained.

"Of course you did! We are going to be married!"

"We were. Now we're not."

"Draco, I don't think you understand my situation here. Daddy thinks I'm going to marry some other man."

"You most likely will."

"What is wrong with you? Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because it's true? Pansy, I don't know why you're keeping this up, I told you months ago it was over."

"You say that all the time! You said that fourth year after the Yule ball and then by New Years we were back together!"

"Well I'm serious this time."

"You're _always_ serious. Draco, enough. This has gone on far too long and dragging your father into this?"

"What does my father have to do with this?"

"He tore up our contract! Draco, honestly. If you were angry with me there were better ways to get back at me."

"I'm not angry with you! Pansy, this is over. Our Courtship is _over_. You're contracted to another bloke and my father has gone into negotiations on my behalf."

"Negotiations? For who? It better be for me, Draco Malfoy, or I'll show you what trouble really means."

"Of course not for you. I've only told you half a dozen times that we're over!"

"Oh, I bet this is all about that slag _Potter_, isn't it?" Parkinson lashed out.

"Oi! Who are you calling a slag?" Grace asked affronted, but Parkinson ignored her as she continued to stare at Malfoy.

"She is not a slag, not like you. And if you must know, she's in a serious Courtship, has been for some time now."

"I knew it!"

"It's not with me, you daft bint."

"Don't you dare call me that!"

"I'll call you whatever I please when you're acting like this."

"I will ruin you!"

"Can't ruin what you don't have."

"I already have you."

"No, you had me. We did something completely stupid and irrational and now we're both paying the price. If you had only followed your father's orders as I did, then you wouldn't be in the mess you are."

"So what, if I pretended to be daddy's good little girl I could have still had you?" She asked mockingly.

"I'm simply saying that maybe our fathers would have calmed down a great deal and not made the fuss about the whole thing like they did. And I am not a prize to be won." Draco stated slowly, clearly trying to inject some false calm into the conversation.

"So now it's my fault?" Parkinson screeched.

"If the shoe fits." Malfoy said on a shrug.

"And I just bet you're so pleased with yourself. Got to shag me and get out of the contract all in one go. Let me guess, _daddy dearest_ has a brand new contract just waiting for your approval."

"I just told you he did, and you know as well as I do that he hardly needs my approval."

"Not what you told me."

"We were ten, Pansy. I thought we were going to be friends for the rest of our lives, I had no idea what a romantic relationship even consisted of. Why are you making this more difficult than it has to be?"

"Difficult? _Difficult!_ Daddy has signed a contract to a _fifty-year-old man_ and I'm being _difficult_? Oh I'm _terribly_ sorry that my entire life falling in shambles around me is making _your_ life more difficult!"

"I never said it was making _my_ life more difficult, I said _you're_ being difficult."

"Draco!" Parkinson screamed in aggravation.

"Pansy!" Malfoy yelled back.

"You will go to your father, you will tell him you changed your mind, and you will tell him our Courtship is back on." Parkinson threatened darkly.

"It's too late for that Pansy. You're in a binding contract and as I just told you, my father has already written up another Courtship contract. The time to fix this was months ago. I can't help you get out of your contract." Malfoy stated firmly, clearly getting tired of the conversation and the audience.

"You have to fix this! I won't be married off to a decrepit old man!"

"And maybe you should have thought of that when you threw out the rules for our Courtship!"

"It's not like I did it alone!"

"And you're not the only one being punished! We both made a mess out of this Pansy, and we're both paying the price for that. If you have been just a little bit more contrite I doubt your father would have pushed this as far as he had."

"Are you blaming me? I can't believe you, Draco Malfoy. I hope you rot in hell, you bastard!" Parkinson hissed out angrily as sparks shot out of her wand. Seeing the witnesses standing around her, she seemed to think better of hexing him to kingdom come and chose instead to barge away in a huff. Malfoy looked more than a little relieved and practically ran into the Great Hall to get some lunch.

"He shouldn't have blamed her like that." Fay stated with a frown as the crowd dispersed and they made their way back to lunch. "It was uncalled for."

Grace snorted. "There are a lot of things he shouldn't have done but did anyway."

"Because he's a spoiled brat?" Hermione offered.

Grace nodded. "Probably. I think this is the first time he's actually dealing with the consequences of his actions in such a direct manner."

"Most likely. Also likely is that V-Voldemort is now living in his home and has opened his eyes to a few things." Hermione reasoned.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is living with the Malfoy's?" Fay asked in shock, plopping down heavily on her seat.

"Allegedly. And you didn't hear it from us." Grace replied with a slight warning in her tone.

"Didn't hear what?" Lavender asked as she slid in next to Hermione. "Never mind that! Did you just see the mess that is Parkinson and Malfoy?"

"I think the whole school saw it, and if they didn't they'll hear about it soon enough." Hermione replied as she rolled her eyes and pulled out her Arithmancy book.

Fay leaned in towards Lavender. "Did you hear that Malfoy's father got him another contract? I heard it was with the younger Greengrass because Heir Greengrass can't stand him!"

"Ulg, that's nothing!" Lavender said in a loud hushed tone. "Do you remember the Randle-Eastchurch-Munslow debacle?"

"Who could bloody forget?" Grace mumbled as she rolled her eyes. "It was all anyone could talk about before that Dickson bloke decided to propose."

"It was so romantic!" Parvati swooned as she sat down next to Lavender, catching the end of Grace's sentence.

"Never mind that, you'll never guess what happened!" Lavender pressed giddily.

"Do I have to?" Hermione muttered into her book.

"Remember how she said she wrote to his parents? And hers but that's just good sense." Lavender continued on before anyone else could stop her.

"Wasn't that just a threat though?" Fay asked in confusion.

"I thought so too, but it turns out it wasn't!" Lavender said gleefully. "You all missed it because you were out there, but his parents sent him a howler!"

"I'd feel sorry for him, but really I can't be bothered." Grace said thinking back on what he had done.

Hermione nodded in agreement. "Feel sorry for someone who deserves it."

"Stop with the chitchat! Tell me what happened!" Fay urged.

"Well! Word is that she wrote to both of their parents, one to hers to explain everything and another to his parents, you know, the formal one where you break things off." All four girls nodded their heads in understanding. "Well, her parents met with his parents and his parents decided that it was a whole fabrication because they obviously met his intended already."

"Didn't they realize though? I mean, Munslow’s father should have at least either sent a cancellation of the Courtship contract or received one." Hermione pointed out logically.

"He should have, but he didn't.” Lavender agreed. “I don't know if he just didn't realize or decided that his son could do no harm but he went running around all the important social events telling everyone he could meet how the Eastchurch's were ruining his son's reputation on a whim."

"After what his son tried to do?!" Parvati groaned out in disgust. "Now we now where his son gets it from."

"And it would have worked, if the Eastchurch's weren't higher in social standing than the Munslow’s, one of the reasons they were trying to set their children up together."

"I'm guessing this is where it gets good?" Hermione asked, finally giving up trying to focus on her book.

"Of course! Well, you know how much of a gossip Turpin is right? Well, her older sister is twice as bad and she works for the Ministry. Our Turpin told her sister all the dirty details and she went around and told everyone she knew. Which of course got back to all three parents and suddenly the Munslow's weren't just looking at one bad faith contract, but _two_."

"Ouch.” Fay winced. “That's going to do some damage."

"Which is exactly what Munslow's parents were starting to realize and how their badmouthing earlier had done some serious damage to their own reputations outside of their son." Parvati said with a strong nod.

"They're marrying him off to a foreigner aren't they?" Grace asked, already knowing where this was going.

"Well naturally, but that's not the hot gossip. Because their son completely ruined their social standing, they're 'taking a break from British society'." Lavender said with far too much joy for Grace to be comfortable with.

"What does that even mean?" Fay asked.

"Tactical retreat?” Grace offered. “Hopefully let the scandal die down before showing your face again."

"They're moving to Greece! Munslow is in his last year so he's allowed to finish out here, but his parents are beyond angry and have cut him off financially until he understands his 'duty' better." Lavender said, almost stumbling over her words in her eagerness to get them out.

"Is that really a punishment though? I mean, besides going to Hogsmeade we don't really need any galleons do we?" Hermione pointed out.

"Munslow has been parading around for years telling anyone he knew how he was finally going to get his money after he graduated." Parvati interjected before Lavender could say anything.

"So?" Grace and Hermione parroted.

"Ulg, you two are hopeless!” Lavender groaned. “Don't you get it? Munslow only agreed to his first contract to please his parents and wasn't too fussed when he found out who it was, until he tried to push her into doing things outside of their Courtship contract. Then Randle comes along and he jumps ship because not only is he angry and humiliated, but now he's going to get what he wants a year sooner and get his own little revenge on his parents."

"Are you saying this whole thing was a convoluted revenge plot on his parents?" Fay asked with disgust.

"Pretty much." Parvati said.

"But I heard them talking on the train, he was really into her." Ginny protested, and Grace had to blink back her surprise at seeing Ginny since she had no idea when the other girl had sat down.

"And I bet it helped that her parents didn't care how she spent her money as long as she made good choices." Lavender stated with a pointed look.

"This seems a little far fetched." Ginny muttered.

Lavender shrugged carelessly. "Believe me, don't believe me, but just remember who told you the truth when you don't hear about the Munslow’s for the next decade."

"Next decade? That's a bit long isn't it?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Not if you're going about raising a better Heir." Lavender said with a smirk.

"Why do we keep listening to Lavender and her gossip?" Grace asked Hermione lowly as Lavender started to gossip about another Courtship contract that neither girl was interested in.

"It's not like we can get away from her."

"Sure, but why do we need to know? It's not important and honestly, we're never going to meet them. I never even knew Randle, Munslow, and Eastchurch existed before this whole thing started."

"That's because you don't really care." Hermione pointed out with a laugh.

Grace frowned. "And you do?"

"Well, no, but...oh alright fine, I don't know why I listen to her either."

"So we listen to her because we can't get away from the gossip otherwise?"

"Probably."

"I feel sorry for us." Grace remarked with faked sadness just as Hedwig swooped into her line of vision. She landed gracefully and stuck out her leg, demanding Grace relieve her of her burden immediately. Grace obliged quickly, knowing how sharp Hedwig's beak was when the owl felt she was being slighted.

"Who's that from?" Hermione asked curiously, something that most people had stopped doing because Grace liked roping people into helping her read her 'fan mail'. She figured if they were nosey enough to ask, they were nosey enough to help. "Bit late to get mail, isn't it?"

"My lawyers.” Grace said after opening the letter and looking to the signature. “They want to have a meeting with me and are asking me to take off a whole day."

"They know you're still in Hogwarts, right?"

"They're wizards, who knows what they think. I'll just schedule it for a Saturday so that I can catch up on any homework on Sunday. And if you dare say that that sounds reasonable, so help me!"

"I didn't say a word!" Hermione said with false innocence, a huge smile on her face even as she lifted her hands up in surrender.

"Menace." Grace grumbled through a smile.

"Speaking of getting letters, have you heard from Remus yet?"

"Not for a while.” Grace sighed as she shook her head. “I know he told you he wouldn't be able to and I understand why, but..."

"It's still a worry." Hermione acknowledge.

"I'm actually a little conflicted. I like him as a person but I didn't want him as a partner and I never got the chance to tell him that. I don't like leading him on."

"He must have known what you where getting at though."

"I dunno. He seemed more interested in James, if I'm being honest."

Hermione blinked at that. "What do you mean?"

"He, uh, well I was explaining why I wasn't-why I didn't feel like we fit." Grace stumbled.

"If this is how you tried to break things off, I might actually understand."

"This is hard you know! And unpleasant. I would much rather have sent an owl." Grace said as she gave Hedwig a few strips of bacon that her owl happily accepted before flying off.

"Please don't ever break up with anyone by owl, that's horrible." Hermione pleaded, seemingly genuinely worried that Grace would ever do that.

"And completely safe.” Grace teased. “No horrible feelings, just a clean break."

"Agree to disagree. Continue. While you were trying to break things off...?"

"Well I laid it all out for him."

"Which means you didn't." Hermione translated.

"I told him we couldn't Court because James was a sneaky snake and had me agreeing that our one year Courtship would be exclusive."

"Smart man." Hermione stated with an approving nod.

"Meh." Grace shrugged. "Then Remus kind of looked at me and asked how James had managed to do that and then he kind of went...not blank exactly but, erm, thoughtful? Then he kind of excused himself and I never got the chance to really formally break the whole thing off."

"So he knows you're exclusive with James but might think he's still got a chance when he gets back, is that it?" Hermione summarized.

"Pretty much."

"Hey, are you going to your vaults any time soon?"

Grace had to take a minute to digest her question. "Odd question and weird segue. Why?"

Hermione gave her a slightly guilty smile. "Because I need to check out the McKinnon one and I don't feel like doing it alone. I've done tons of research and while they were light oriented, they were still wizards."

"Which means...?"

"Traps." Hermione stated bluntly.

"You want me to join you in getting hexed?" Grace asked in confusion.

"No, I want you to join me so that you can tell me not to touch anything."

"Actually that works out nicely. The goblins have been hounding me to check out my other vaults. Turns out they just want to know what's in it. The bigger the gold, the larger the horde, or something ridiculous like that. So if you don't mind going with me to check out my vaults then I'll be happy to join you."

Hermione groaned. "Is this going to turn into another one of those full days at the bank? I hate those."

"Probably." Grace said casually. "I do really need to go check out the Black vault during Chris-Yule, so let's go then. Is that ok? What with Krum and all."

"Oh, that's fine. We made plans for later, actually. They're celebrating in Bulgaria first and then heading over here so we can all spend time together."

"'We'?" Grace quoted in confusion.

"Me, mum, and dad."

Grace blanched. "I forgot about your parents. Did they take it well?"

"Depends on your definition of 'well', but all things considered...they took it as decently as any parent could. They're not thrilled about Viktor being so much older and they don't really understand any of the House stuff, but they're taking it all in stride. Mostly."

"So they're meeting the Krums?" Grace asked sceptically.

"Yep.

"And you're ok with that?" She asked even more sceptically.

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Am I not supposed to be?"

"No no, I'm just-your parents are muggles. And you're now part of the 'elite'." Grace tried to explain.

"I'm really not sure what you're getting at."

"I'm going to be blunt and just say it and hope you won't kill me."

"That's not as comforting as you might think it is."

"Muggles aren't welcome in the Wizarding world and the Purebloods especially have kind of big problem with them."

"Ah-ha." Hermione said slowly.

“Well, Durmstrang isn't known to be all fluffy, what with the dark arts rumours and all that. They're probably not really big on muggles to begin with.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh. That's what you’re getting at. Viktor's father isn't the most welcoming sort on paper and he's made a few quips here and there about 'my unfortunate past', but I grew up muggle and he's just going to have to deal with that. Apart from that, I'm not really interested in having my parents meet the 'elite'. I rather like them alive."

"Fair point. I just wanted to make sure."

"I know, thank you for that." Hermione said just as a package was dropped in front of Grace. "Honestly, how many packages are you getting?"

"It's nothing like that, this one is just the letters from the fan vault."

"What's a fan vault?" Padma asked as she sat down next to Fay.

"A vault full of letters address to 'The-Girl-Who-Lived'."

"Yikes." Padma replied with a grimace even as she pulled a bowl of mixed fruits towards her.

"We've been seeing you a lot lately." Hermione remarked thoughtfully.

"What happened to your own friends?" Grace asked Padma not unkindly. It wasn't rare, per se, to see her hanging out with them, just that she had her own friends in her own house she liked being with.

Padma rolled her eyes. "Juliet is angry with me because father is trying to negotiate a Courtship contract with someone she likes and now she's taking it out on me."

Hermione looked outraged. "That's hardly your fault!"

"Tell her that. I'm giving her some space and letting the other girls smother her for a bit." Padma said with a shrug. "Until then, I get to bother Parvati."

"Feel like helping out with my letters?" Grace asked hopefully as she held one out to Padma, the other girls having already gathered back around the box and taking letters out to read.

Padma laughed and took the letter. "Might as well."

"I don't mind reading the ones from children," Fay started with a scrunched up nose, "but the ones from adults are really starting to give me some seriously creepy vibes."

"I know!" Parvati said as she pushed a letter away from her before grabbing the next one. "The kid ones are all cute and 'thank you for saving mummy and daddy', but the adults. Trying to get a marriage contract with a child?! They should have been arrested!"

"Is that illegal though?" Hermione asked thoughtfully. "I mean, judging from some of these dates, it's been over a decade."

"And nothing happened to Grace." Padma added.

"Thanks for helping me with all of these." Grace said changing the subject, grateful she could shove off at least some of the letters.

Lavender huffed out a laugh. "We aren't doing you a favour, you're doing us the favour. I'm just waiting to read something one of our classmates wrote you."

"Ah, the ulterior motive!" Grace said dramatically, throwing the back of her hand against her forehead and pretending to swoon. "The betrayal! How shall I survive?"

"Probably by laughing at the letter." Fay chuckled as she read another letter. "Ulg, no! Next!"

"What's the last letter then?" Hermione asked with a nod of her head towards the lone letter left next to Grace's plate.

"What letter?"

"The one you forgot about."

"How should I know, haven't opened it have I?" Grace snarked as she opened it and took a glance at its contents. "It's an invitation."

"To what?"

"A Yule celebration?" Lavender asked excitedly, forgetting all about the letter and turning her attention to Grace.

"I bloody wish. This is worse. It's an invitation from Slughorn for his Christmas party before we go off for holiday."

"Oh wow! What else does it say? Is there a dress code, can you bring a friend or a significant other?" Parvati asked in one breath.

"Oh, I got one of those yesterday." Hermione remarked casually.

"_You_ got one?" Lavender asked, her face scrunching up with a mixture of derision and confusion.

Hermione glowered at her. "What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?"

"I didn't mean anything by it! I'm just saying-" Lavender tried to defend before getting cut off.

"Don't." Fay said absently as she continued her perusal for another letter. "We all know what happens when you 'just say' things."

"Oh fine! Try to do a nice thing." Lavender stated in a huff before standing up, tossing her hair and storming off, Parvati and Padma following after her with an apologetic shrug.

"I hate Hogwarts." Grace said on a moan.

Fay snorted in laughter, eyes dancing with mirth. "You'll hate it more when every male student starts coming up to you and hinting that they're the perfect date."

Grace only moaned louder and thunked her head back on the table. This day couldn't end soon enough.

\---******---

"Ah, Lord Black-Gryffindor." Lord Tripe said genially as he ushered her into a large conference room. "Please sit. Coffee, tea?"

"Tea, actually, thank you." Grace replied, already getting the feeling that she would be here for some time.

"Not to worry, it's best you have something." Mr Hitchens replied as a house-elf pop into the room to deliver the beverages. "This could turn into a rather long discussion." He said as he whisked out his wand and activated the privacy wards.

"So, gentlemen. Your last letter indicated that you reached some sort of agreement?" Grace started after she took a sip of tea and determined it was still too hot to drink.

"Yes, we did. I believe last we spoke we had agreed to research the legalities of giving away a number of your Houses. To begin with, we must thank you once again for your willingness to work with us. The goblins have been difficult to work with, but your letter and seal of approval has helped a great deal." Lord Tripe informed her.

Grace smiled kindly. "That’s good to hear."

"Once we ascertained that your Houses were not primed for problems nor were you handing out debts, we were able to make some progress." Lord Tripe added.

"We are pleased to inform you that the goblins have looked over the Houses in your care and have agreed that you have managed them adequately but agree that for a sixteen year old Lord it may be difficult to manage them all." Mr. Hitchens said as he rolled his eyes a little.

"How generous of them." Grace deadpanned.

Mr. Hitchens lips twitched but continued on. "They gave us permission, also aided by you, to look into each House and assess it's standings. We hired an accountant to go over each financial statement and his team agrees with the goblins."

"They are actually quite impressed with what you managed to do in the few short months you've actively been managing the portfolios." Lord Tripe informed her.

Mr. Hitchens continued without waiting for a reply. “There were four Houses that had properties attached and we had a team look at each of them and they appear to be clean and most importantly structurally sound."

"I'm guessing you're going somewhere with this?" Grace asked, feeling there was a purpose to the story.

"You guessed correctly.” Lord Tripe nodded. “With the other thirty Houses, what you're essentially giving up is a name and a financial portfolio."

"With the other four, however, you are also giving away property that they might not have gained on their own terms. These four Houses are closer to getting themselves a Title as well and as such, the terms need to be changed." Mr. Hitchens explained.

"Of me handing them over you mean." Grace clarified.

"Indeed." Lord Tripe agreed.

Grace nodded. "Alright, what does that look like legally speaking?"

"For the other thirty Houses, legally speaking one hundred years of political fealty is enough to even out the costs of handing over a minor title." Lord Tripe continued.

"For the four remaining, you will need something stronger." Mr. Hitchens stated.

"Legally speaking." Lord Tripe added.

"So what am I looking at? Am I looking at four Houses that I tie to me as Lord Black-Gryffindor, or am I looking at a monetary transaction?" Grace questioned as she looked from one man to the other.

"Both.” Lord Tripe said. “You can essentially, because of what you're giving up, ask for both fealty and monetary gains."

"Alright." Grace said slowly as she thought about it. "What are you, as my legal representatives, advising me?"

"Money, while attractive, would do little for you in the long run." Mr. Hitchens warned her lightly.

"Politically speaking." Lord Tripe quipped happily.

"We would advise you to tie these four Houses to you." Mr. Hitchens stated seriously.

Grace frowned at that. "You do realize that if I hand over one of the four Houses to as payment, you and your family would be bound to me for however long I demand?"

Mr. Hitchens nodded amicably. "I understand perfectly."

"And you're still willing?"

"More than ever."

"May I ask why?"

Mr. Hitchens sighed lightly as he laced his fingers over his stomach and leaned back in his chair. "I've heard many things over the years since you have joined our world."

"That doesn't bode well." Grace muttered.

"The woman described in the papers and in rumours has nothing on the young woman I have met these past few months. I have seen with my own eyes how, despite your reticence, you have managed all of your responsibilities to the extent that they have started to flourish. You may be young yet, but your character has determined more than you may think."

"So you're willing to give up most of your political freedom because I'm good at managing my investment."

Mr. Hitchens chuckled in delight. "Not quite. I am choosing to enter into this contract with you because you have shown me that despite not being wanted priority, you still take you responsibilities seriously."

Grace's face cleared in understanding. "I'm a safe bet."

Mr. Hitchens inclined his head. "I have a great belief in you."

"And if I die?"

"If you die then I will be faced with two outcomes. The first would be that someone claims the Black-Gryffindor seats and inherits my fealty, and the second is that it dies with you as you are the last Lord Black-Gryffindor currently."

Grace narrowed her eyes before smiling slowly. "You're not hitching your wagon to just the Black or the Gryffindor Houses, you're hitching them on both of them. That's quite sneaky."

Mr Hitchens smiled in delight. "I am an attorney my dear, that is what we do."

"All right." Grace said on a laugh. "Make it specific to Lord Black-Gryffindor, but I will have to add that because the four Houses are almost titled that fealty will be two hundred years."

Lord Tripe’s eyebrows raised in surprise. "That's a long time."

"A little over two life times." Grace nodded.

"Is that wise?" He hedged delicately.

"Those are my stipulations, Lord Tripe. People are always allowed to choose otherwise."

"One might say you've learned your dealings from the goblins." Lord Tripe mused as he looked at her with renewed interest.

Grace snorted as she thought of her far too many dealings with the little monsters. "One might. Have you decided which House you intend to take or are you willing to receive any?" She asked Mr. Hitchens.

"I will take one of the four."

"Bold."

"I am an old man my dear, bold means much less for me than you might think. I intend to leave my family a legacy and a piece of this world in whatever manner I can do so." Mr. Hitchens said gently.

"Alright." Grace agreed. "Make it legal and I'll sign it. That's one down, what about the rest?"

"As you might recall from our last meeting and our several owls, we set up a basic rubric to weed out the ‘duds’, if you will." Lord Tripe replied.

"I remember. No one with a criminal record, no one with criminal leanings, proven or rumoured, no one with a job in the muggle world or one that spends the majority of their time in the muggle world. Did I forget something?"

"I do not believe so. Nevertheless, it has taken some time and partly the reason we have called you in today."

"And made me clear my schedule." Grace said as a door opened and three young men and two young women walked into the room laden down with files. Grace felt dread creep into her veins as she suddenly had a very good idea what she was going to be doing today. "We're going through all the files, aren't we?"

"We are indeed. Do not despair, we've whittled down the hundreds of thousands potential to a mere five hundred." Lord Tripe stated jovially.

Grace held back a whimper but couldn't help the slumping of her shoulders. "Is there something specific I'm looking for?" She asked instead.

Lord Tripe hummed in thought. "When we last spoke I suggested someone who had political ambitions or a strong urge to belong in our world."

"I remember, although I find it difficult to believe that that would be something written down on paper." She pointed out.

"Our team is the best, however even we cannot manage that. Which is why you are here today. Most of these applicants we have chosen represent the top tier of muggleborn individuals who have shown a strong inclination to stay in our world. We would like you to narrow that number down."

"What then?"

"Considering that not all the people we have chosen will want a House of their own, we approach them with a vow of silence and, if they accept, the option to their own House."

"So you're saying that we chose them now, then let them decide if they want it and the ones who do get thrown into another file sorting?"

"No, that would be useless and a waste of our time.” Mr. Hitchens told mer. “The next step will be private interviews. We will need to get a better sense of who they are first, then approach their work and friends to see how well they have built themselves up."

"Will I have to be present for that as well?" Grace asked, wondering how she could avoid the work they were implying.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor," Lord Tripe started severely, "these people that we choose will the lead by you and under your House for a century. You do not want to be responsible for giving a House to the wrong sort. It will be time intensive, it will be tiring, and it will be a nuisance, but we will get it done. Most importantly, you will know every person that is chosen and build a strong bond between your Houses."

"Alright, alright, I get it.” Grace sighed out. “I'm being short-sighted."

"Hardly. You're being a teenager, something we seem to forget at times." Mr. Hitchens said soothingly, shooting his friend a disapproving look.

"Nevertheless, this is simply the first step in a long list of steps, so if you please." Lord Tripe stated as he waved his hand over the large stacks in front of them.

Grace winced but pulled a stack closer towards her and got comfortable in her seat as she picked up the top file and opened it. The information seemed simple enough. Age, birth date, parents, current employment, employment history, N.E.W.T. marks, friends, acquaintances, hobbies, and address. Well, there were a lot more details, like specifications on what the person looked like (hair colour, hair cut, eye colour etc) but she really couldn't be bothered with most of that so she simply skimmed most of it. What she was looking for were people who either had the same leanings as she did (easier to handle in the long run) or would at least challenge her to think differently about a topic she was passionate about. It was also something she couldn't really get when staring at a piece of parchment and so had to make the best educated guess she could.

For example Malcolm Callahan, age 36, brown hair, brown eyes (with glasses, -4.25 on both sides) has two sisters and a brother (all magical despite their muggle parents) and has been particularly vocal about the discrimination against muggleborns in the Wizarding world to the extent that he went and gathered a like-minded group of individuals who came together each month to protest against the Ministry. So. On paper he came across as an activist with a slight (possible) temper. On the plus side, he would be more than thrilled to be able to make changes from the inside and giving him a House would help him understand exactly why muggleborn students were at a disadvantage from the very beginning. On the minus side, the man could accept the House and go full rogue. Which made her think of two things.

"Something has just occurred to me."

"Yes?" Lord Tripe asked absently as he continued to read through the file in his hands.

"All of these people are older than me."

"We would have been hard pressed to find someone younger and mature enough to handle the obligations." Mr. Hitchens pointed out.

"No, I mean to say that I'll be the youngest of the lot. What's keeping them from looking at a sixteen year old girl and taking the House and then turning around and not listening to me?"

Lord Trip lowered his file to look at her. "To begin with, that is what the interviews will be for. Secondly, once they accept the House they cannot go against you."

"You say that-" Grace started.

"It is written into the contract." Lord Tripe interrupted. "They are legally and magically bound to keep their word. If they fail to do so, the House and all of its assets revert back to you."

"Oh." That was good, it meant that even if she did give a House to the possible activist and he did go rogue, then she could just claim it back. Which was, frankly, a relief.

"We also discussed whether or not some muggleborns might have lineage Houses." Grace continued.

"We did.” Mr. Hitchens nodded “We discussed it and came to the conclusion that our final choices will have to go to Gringotts. That would minimize the costs to us if it does happen that one of the candidates turns out to belong to an established, or otherwise, House."

"Are we taking on the costs of the tests then? Wouldn't it be cheaper to get them at the Ministry?" That was one fact Grace would never forget. Goblins were damned expensive.

"It would be. It pains me to say that the Ministry would not be an ideal solution for what we are trying to accomplish. We want to get through as many Houses as possible before someone catches wind of what we are up to. Goblins, while of the expensive side, also come with the caveat of silence. Something we will sorely need when we move on to the next stage." Mr. Hitchens added with a sigh.

"What would happen if the press finds out before we begin? Would it really be that bad?" Grace wondered.

"I know you have had trouble of your own with certain papers," Mr Hitchens started slowly, "and when they hear that you, of all people, are attached to the biggest story in history, well."

Grace blinked. "Erm."

"What he means to say,” Lord Tripe said coming to her aid, “is that once it gets in the papers that you're giving away Houses, those without will be clambering for a chance. Not only that, but the titled Houses will be in an uproar and try to stop you by any means necessary. We could be in court for decades before we would be allowed to even move a piece of paper without their say-so."

"Ah."

"Indeed." Lord Tripe said with a wry smile before turning back to his own stack of papers.

Grace nodded absently as she pulled another file towards her as she put Callahan on the 'maybe' pile. Neil Scott went on the 'no' pile because of his long list of girlfriends (commitment issues it looked like, added to the fact that none of them had anything nice to say about him). Craig Murray was another that went to the 'no' pile since he believed werewolves and vampires to be abominations that should be eradicated as soon as possible. Audrey Beldon went on the 'maybe' pile because she was already politically active and was clearly trying to make a career for herself, while Blythe Edge went on the 'yes' pile since she was already on the verge of getting her own House but would never be approved because she was a muggleborn.

By the time Grace got to her sixtieth folder, she simply skimmed the information and then decided whether or not she could see herself putting up with that person for the rest of her life.

Not fair by any means, but fuck fair. This was exhausting work and she really couldn't care less that Aida Brent had had four husbands and five children. What was the point? Well, she knew the point, obviously, but what did having for ex-husbands have to do with whether or not she would be given a House? All right, fine, she understood that too, but she was just tired and now cranky and these folders were bloody endless. It needed to be done though, so she stood up with a grown, stretched out her bunched up muscles and asked a house-elf for some food before walking around the room a few times while she ate. Both Lord Tripe and Mr. Hitchens seemed more than content to stay in their seats and Grace figured it had more to do with habit than anything else.

By the end of the afternoon, Grace had managed to go through her considerable stack with a large 'no' pile, a medium 'maybe' pile, and a sad excuse for a 'yes' pile. Looking over at her two attorneys as they finished going through the last few files they still had in front of them, Grace thought of something new. Money.

After going through all the files, she figured she would stand to loose about two billion galleons if she did manage to get rid of all thirty-two Houses. For someone who hadn't had any sort of money growing up, the number was incomprehensible and in that sense, easier to part with. On the other hand, she had never had any money and she was essentially giving away what amounted to financial freedom for the rest of her life. On the other hand, she would be free of a lifetime worth of stress and financial obligation towards things she had never wanted in the first place. Considering the fact that the money wasn't really real to her, it made it easier to part with. She was also lucky enough to have kept all thirty-two House files in order so that she had very little to do when handing them over.

"That's me done.” Mr. Hitchens announced some time later. “How are you two fairing?"

"I'm finished." Grace replied.

"Finished just this second.” Lord Tripe said as he closed his file and plopped it down on one of his three stacks. “Excellent. Now, how many have each of you found that you have deemed acceptable? I have a mere five myself."

"I found a good eight." Mr. Hitchens said happily.

"Three for me." Grace grimaced, already knowing what would come next.

"Sixteen in total that we can start approaching.” Lord Tripe stated with pleased nod. “Less than I had hoped, but a good start nonetheless."

"Does that mean we should go through the 'maybe' piles now?" Grace asked, a little apprehensive.

"Not your own, that wouldn't be productive. We should switch out our stacks and resume reading through them." Seeing Grace's expression Mr. Hitchens gentled his tone a fraction. "I understand it is frustrating work and if we didn't need your input, we would have asked our interns to go through the files. This is sensitive information, however, and the less people know, the safer we are."

"I understand. I just have a difficult time sitting still." Grace confessed.

"Tedious work usually has that effect.” Lord Tripe joked lightly. “If we get through it now, then we won't have to go through them again at a later date."

"Alright. Let's get through this then." Grace said determinedly.

\---******---

"Grace. Are you ready?" James asked as soon as he spotted her the Entrance Hall, his smile dimming slightly as he saw Hermione behind her in her coat. "Lord McKinnon."

"She's coming with us." Grace replied as she narrowed her eyes in warning.

"As a chaperone? This isn't a date." He objected.

"Don't be obtuse, she's a Lord. As soon as we're done with Hogwarts we'll be on the Wizengamot and she wants to know how it all works before that."

James looked slightly put out but nodded at the logic of it all. "Of course. Shall we?" He asked, holding out two arms for both girls to grab onto in order for him to apparate them in one go.

Considering the wards, they made their way down the slope to the gates, and the end of the wards, before telling them to hold on tightly and turning sharply, disappearing with a loud clap.

They arrived in an empty alleyway that Grace knew all to well from her previous visit to the Ministry and ignored the emotional triggers that caused as they stepped in the phone box and James typed out the number to the Ministry.

"Do you know what today's meeting is about?" Hermione asked after James identified their purpose for visiting the Ministry and had handed out their badges.

"It can't be worse than the one two weeks ago." He remarked distractedly.

"Oh?" Hermione perked up. "What was that one about?"

"There wasn't anything better to do so some of the 'newer' Lords thought it was a good time to take a look at the older laws."

"And?" Hermione prodded as James ushered them to the security guard and grumbled at having to wait for the man to weigh their wands.

"If you intend to invite change into an institution older than the sun, make sure nobody knows what your doing." Seeing the puzzled look on Hermione's face he continued. "As soon as they caught wind of what was going on, they dug in their heels. What was supposed to be a two-hour session turned into a fifteen hour shouting match. Nothing was done. Half the court stormed out in a huff and the other half refused to come back until the thing was solved."

"What thing was that?" Hermione probed, hoping to get more information and James practically pushed them to the front of the elevator lines.

"Who really knows. I admit that I didn't try very hard to listen after the second hour." James shrugged off handily as they stepped into the lift and were promptly squashed as people pushed their way in behind them. Nobody liked waiting.

"How long did you stay once you figured out what was going on?" Grace asked quietly, not wanting to speak too loudly when others could hear her so clearly.

"Not long at all." James stated as he glared at the people around him. "This is us." He said before pushing Grace out the elevator and grumbling about people who wouldn't move.

"So an hour." Grace stated with a nod as the doors closed behind them and Hermione tried to wrestle her hair into something a bit more respectable. It probably didn't help that she'd had to fight her own way out of the crowd since James hadn't bothered to help her.

"Two, actually." James replied primly as Grace laughed at his answer, smacking his arm and tilting her head towards Hermione before giving him a judgmental look.

James rolled his eyes instead and urged them down the corridor before opening the door for them. Grace noticed that most people seemed to already be in attendance and turned to say something to James when a short pudgy looking man beat her to it.

"Lord Potter, a word if you will?" He stated so severely that Grace wondered what could have possibly happened for that tone.

"Of course." James stated with a nod before turning back and taking Grace's hand and kissing it gently. "My lady."

"Idiot." Grace said lightly and as softly as possible considering her audience. She'd have to have a talk with him later about shunning Hermione so blatantly because she wasn't going to put up with his antics, especially considering what Hermione was already facing.

"Now what do we do?" Hermione asked as James was lead away.

"Mingle. Thank heavens Malfoy isn't here."

"I am."

"Oh no." Grace moaned as Hermione suspiciously disappeared. "Where did you come from."

"The entrance." Malfoy stated blandly, one perfect eyebrow lifting up in judgement.

"Sod off."

"Is this how you'll act once we're on the Wizengamot together?"

Grace scoffed. "You do know that I'll be on this bloody thing after Hogwarts where you still have to wait decades until your father hands it off to you, right?"

"Why are you so reticent to being my friend?"

"Are we really having this conversation again? You know why. I don't even understand why you'd want to be my friend after everything we've said and done to each other."

"Time changes people."

"You mean Voldemort has opened your eyes to the hell on earth he wants and you don't like it."

"Lord Black-Gryffindor, a pleasure to see you here." A voice called from behind her. She turned and ignored whatever Malfoy had started to saw and smiled widely as she saw Lord Tripe walking her way.

"Lord Tripe, I hadn't realized you were here or I would have sought you out."

"Not to worry. It's unusual for me to attend, but we have a trial today and a full Wizengamot is a must, I'm afraid. Let me introduce you to Lord Alexander Blishwick and Lord Joshua Max."

"Max? I haven't heard that name in some time." Malfoy stated curiously.

"Oh I'm sorry, may I introduce you to Heir Draco Malfoy. I'm sure you've all met his father." She added with a wink.

"I dare say we have." Lord Blishwick stated as he gave Malfoy a once over. "Going to take over your father's position then?"

"Not in the least, not for several years yet anyway. No, I'm here today because I'm interested in becoming an attorney."

"A fine profession." Lord Max stated with an approving nod.

"And what has caught your interest then?" Lord Tripe asked, the only attorney amongst them, not that Malfoy knew.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor, as it happens."

"Me?"

"I have never met someone who could argue with a wall and win."

"And you decided to be that wall did you?"

"It's hard work boy." Lord Tripe stated, narrowed eyes on Draco. "It's a lot of late nights and even earlier mornings, barely getting any time to eat or sleep."

"Don't listen to this old man! Lord Blishwick chuckled out, slapping a hand on Lord Tripe's back in a genial move that Lord Tripe did not seem too pleased with. As long as your passion guides you

I think you'll be fine."

"Try telling Eastchurch and Randle that." Lord Max snorted as he eyed a group of people huddled together not to far off.

"I don't know if you've heard, but the Munslow seat is temporarily empty." Lord Blishwick informed them, his tone a little hushed as they all looked at the group now, despite Grace (and probably Malfoy) not having a clue at who they were looking at.

"Munslow?" Grace asked in surprise. "Not Gregory Munslow?"

"Oh dear, did you know the boy?"

"Knowing is stretching the truth, I know of him. The, um, episodes involving his indiscretions were quite public. I think all of Hogwarts knows."

"You are currently still in Hogwarts then?" A deep voice asked from behind them. Grace, knowing better, didn't answer and simply raised her eyebrows.

"Ah, how remiss of me." Lord Max stated with a start. "Lord Black-Gryffindor, Heir Malfoy, may I introduce you to Lord Michael Eastchurch and Lord Peter Randle."

"Nice to meet you. Yes, to answer your question, I am currently still in Hogwarts. We both are." Grace added, thinking that if she was going to be forced to mingle then she'd happily throw Malfoy under the bus too.

"Have you heard about the Munslow incident?" Lord Randle inquired politely even though his eyes were boring holes into her head.

"I think you'd find it rather difficult to find someone in Hogwarts who hasn't."

"Where you present for the confrontation?"

"Which one?" Grace snorted before a contrite expression crossed her face. Lord Randle, however, didn't seem to mind if the look of triumph was anything to go by.

"And you're quite positive of this?"

"One of my good friends overheard Heir Munslow speaking with Heir Randle on the train about their Courtship during the summer. During breakfast a few days later I personally saw him smooth over an argument with Heir Eastchurch, which is when I first heard about the incident on the train."

"I'm sorry, are you suggesting you were the one to find out?"

"I'm not suggesting anything, you asked me what I knew. If you'd rather we stick to the Wizengamot to-do-list we can do that."

"No, no, that's not necessary." Lord Blishwich stated quickly. Grace blinked and looked at Malfoy unsurely who happily jumped in to help her.

"From what I gathered, once Heir Eastchurch was made aware of Heir Munslow's...roaming eye, she decided to confront Heir Munslow. Publicly."

"How public?" Lord Eastchurch asked, clearly having gotten most of what happened but not all of it. Or maybe he wanted their opinion of how it all happened which made Grace wonder what else was going on that they needed to know the details.

"Howler public." Grace put in. "At breakfast." The men standing around her winced at that, no doubt remembering their own time at Hogwarts and how full breakfast was.

"And then?"

"I'm afraid I only know the barest of gossip, I had my own problems at that time." Malfoy stated with contrition, however faked.

"Once my friends and I realized that Heir Eastchurch would have had no way or indication to see through Heir Munslow’s…”

"Double dealings?" Lord Randle injected helpfully.

Grace nodded. "Well, we discussed who would tell her and whether or not she would believe us. Lord McKinnon indicated she knew Heir Lisa Turpin and would subtly inform her of the events on the train and that Heir Eastchurch would be better off spending her time with someone worthy of her."

"Is that so?" Lord Eastchurch said thoughtfully, a distant look in his eyes.

"Lord McKinnon you say?" Lord Max asked, narrowing his eyes at Grace. "I believe that line died out during the last war."

"So did yours, if memory serves." Malfoy jumped in, a warning in his tone.

"Now that is the mark of a budding attorney if I ever did see one!" Lord Blishwick stated jovially as he thumped Malfoy on the back, causing the younger man to jolt forwards with the force. Grace tried her very best not to laugh, but a wheezing sound managed to escape her lips. Malfoy turned towards her with angry eyes and was about to say something before an auror started to announce the beginning of the Wizengamot session.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor, Heir Malfoy." Lord Eastchurch stated as Lord Randle merely inclined his head. Both turned away and headed towards their seats, heads bent closely together as they discussed something.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor, it is always a joy." Lord Tripe stated with a sly smile that had her smiling back and shaking her head.

"You say that now." She joked. "Just wait until I'm on the other end of whatever you want to accomplish."

The three remaining men laughed before saying their goodbyes and Malfoy escorted her to the Heir section.

"You're not sitting with me, are you?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "I'm being polite. And if I recall, Lord McKinnon is here somewhere?"

"The traitor." Grace huffed under her breath.

"If she doesn't show up, I'll keep you company."

"In hell maybe."

"I will wear you down."

"You can try, ferret."

Malfoy just rolled his eyes and walked away, leaving Grace to scan the seats before a brown bushy hair of head caught her eye.

"Hey Hermione?" Grace asked as she plopped down next to her friend.

"Yes?" Hermione mumbled distractedly as she surveyed the room as everyone was getting settled in.

"Remember when I asked why we listened to Lav's gossip?"

"Yes."

"Turns out there's a damned good reason now that we both have places on the Wizengamot. I think we're going to be hearing a lot more gossip on Eastchurch and Randle, there's something going on there."

"What?" Hermione asked in confusion, finally paying attention to what Grace was saying.

"I know. I think they're worse gossips than Lavender. Worse than Turpin."

Hermione gave her a mild disapproving look. "I really hope this is one of your terrible jokes."

"Wish it was." Grace lamented as she turned to look for Lords Randle and Eastchurch. "You know something? I don't really understand why it's so important." She mused after seeing them still in conversation with each other.

"Why what's so important?"

"Them knowing all the details, how it happened and such."

Hermione paused to think about it, slowly puzzling it out as the room settled down.

"It depends really. Politically, since Munslow is gone now, his seats and voting would affect the Wizengamot depending on how and who he voted with. Socially, seeing as how the Wizarding world makes such a big deal of status, taking it as far as Munslow junior did could lead to being black balled and thus isolation. They're persona non-grata right now anyway so it's not a big leap.

Otherwise? Maybe they're looking into this legally because of how damaging it's been to the two families?"

"Maybe." Grace hummed out. "Mostly they'd try some social route though, wouldn't they? I'm not sure you can go after them legally over something like this. I could be wrong though and this is the Wizarding world so anything could happen."

"You find the oddest of conversations, you know that." Hermione said just as the Chief Warlock settled into his seat.

Grace snorted. "Wait till you mingle a little more. And thanks for leaving back there with Malfoy!"

Hermione shushed her. "Hush up, it's starting!"

"It's not a film, Hermione. Believe you me, you'll be bored before they even finish."

"Order, order! Come to order! Thank you. Now that we are all finally here, let us begin. There will be no inducting new members since today will be a trial only. If you came here expecting that, come back next time." The Chief Warlock said loudly after he had banged his gavel to hell and back. "Now, welcome members of the Wizengamot. Let's get through the docket quickly today, we've all got better places to be."

"I hope that's not his attitude normally." Hermione stated lowly, looking at the Chief Warlock with a reprimanding look that Grace thought was completely wasted on someone who didn't care.

"We are here to hear evidence and pass judgement on Matthias Kelly, 37. Previously arrested and charged with sixteen separate counts of petty theft and charged accordingly."

"Sixteen times!" Hermione whispered flabbergasted. "How does someone get caught sixteen times and still be let back out onto the streets?"

"'Back out onto the streets'?" Grace quoted with laughter in her voice.

"Oh you know what I mean." Hermione waved away.

Grace shrugged. "Wizards."

"That can't honestly be the answer, people simply cannot be this...this..."

"Stupid? Incompetent?"

"Not the words I wanted to use, but it expresses the point quite nicely."

"Mr. Kelly is here today because he entered the domicile of Mr and Mrs. Stone without permission and absconded with over 850 galleons worth of items. Most of the items have been recovered. We are here today to keep an open mind and get through the facts."

"Get through the facts?" Hermione parroted. "He just told us the man was caught red-handed!"

Grace shrugged as Matthias Kelly was brought into the courtroom in chains while his attorney followed behind him. "Guess that's up to him." Grace said with a nod the attorney's way.

"Why is there only one?"

"One what?"

"One attorney. Where is his opposition?"

"Oh. I suppose we are, aren't we? We decide his guilt or his innocence."

"That's hardly a proper trial!"

"Somehow, I don't think they care very much." Grace murmured as they listened to Mr. Kelly's attorney plead his case.

"Oh honestly, 'he'll never do it again' will he? Sixteen times and he won't do it again." Hermione mocked as the attorney rested his case and the Wizengamot put up a shield to discuss the case, one the prevented even the Heirs from listening in. "Well really! Isn't the point that we understand how they figure these things out? How are we meant to join them if they exclude us from the decision making process?"

"Oh boy, they really won't see you coming." Grace said on a laugh as she watched Hermione become more and more incensed by the whole trial.

"James seems to be having the time of his life." Hermione remarked as the members of the Wizengamot settled down in their respective seats.

Grace turned slightly to get a better view of James and caught his smug smirk before it cleared into a genuine smile as he caught her watching him. "He's done something." She stated even as she smiled back.

"How do you know that?"

"He smiled."

"The lack of evidence is overwhelming." Hermione remarked dryly.

"Knowing a person means you don't need evidence." Grace said before the Chief Warlock called them back to order.

"Order! Order! Thank you. Mr. Matthias Kelly you have been charged with breaking and entering, theft, and the distribution of stolen goods. Your attorney has pleaded your case and has remarked, several times, that you are prepared to change your ways if this court would only show you some leniency. As pointed out to us by one of our members," the Chief Warlock paused only long enough for his eyes to dart to James and back to the prisoner, "You've have sixteen previous occasions to show a change in your ways. As this is your seventeenth crime, we will be sending you to Azkaban for a minimum of two years."

"Azkaban! No! You can't do that! I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't!"

"Two years! That's preposterous! Completely over the top for his crime!"

"The court disagrees. Considering his previous charges it's clear that his behaviour will not waver unless forced. We are done being lenient when we see Mr. Kelly back in our courts every few months. He has been given opportunities that he has not taken."

"You cannot punish him for that!"

"We can and we have. His previous behaviour is a pattern of intent that hasn't slowed down despite his incarceration in the Ministry cells. He has not learned from the consequences of his wrong doings so now we must adjust the punishment accordingly."

"Please don't do this! I'll be better, I swear it!"

"Contain your client please!" The Chief Warlock barked at the attorney who haphazardly tried to calm his hysterical client. "Aurors, take him away!" The man stated after seeing that Mr. Kelly wouldn't be calmed and was now reaching hysteria. "Court is now closed." He proclaimed loudly, banging his gavel several times before standing and motioning the court scribe to hurry up.

"That was rather harsh, wasn't it?" Hermione asked as they got up and followed the rest of the Heirs out of the room.

"Was it though? You said yourself that you were surprised he was let back out after sixteen arrests."

"Yes, but Azkaban?"

"Would you really continue being a thief if you knew that the next time you were caught you'd go to Azkaban?"

"No." Hermione conceded. "But two years is rather long."

"And he was essentially let off sixteen times." Grace pointed out as they walked out of the room. She spotted James trying to extract himself from one of his fellow Wizengamot members that she hadn't met yet and was only too happy to help him escape.

"Thank you darling. Lord Accrington loves to hear himself speak." James said softly as he guided her back to the lifts.

"Don't they all? Speaking of which, congratulations on your win." She said with a pointed look and a small smile.

"I hardly did anything." He protested lightly, both of them aware that Hermione was there and listening closely.

"Oh, I think you all did your part. That's the point of the Wizengamot." Hermione said with a narrow eyed look.

"Say," Grace started as they were stuffed back into a full lift, "have you heard anything about Lord Eastchurch or Lord Randle?"

"Not to my knowledge." James said slowly as he thought about it. "Should I have?"

Grace shook her head. "Not really, just a thought passing through."

"Fairly specific, that thought." He questions lowly as the lift doors opened and they all tumbled out in a hasty rush.

"Gods!" Hermione complained as she tried to straighten out her crumpled robes. "I know we're wizards and all that, but there's got to be a better way to travel than standing like a bunch of sardines in a tin can."

"We have several." James deadpanned with a pointed look at the floo grates lighting up every few seconds as people came and went. "It's just not possible in a building like this. Never mind that now, are you ready to go?" He asked even as pushed them through a door Grace had never seen before that lead them to a deserted alley she'd never been in.

"Did we come in this way?"

"No, that door drops you out in different alleys, depending on how crowded it is." James told her before pulling her in lightly and wrapping an arm around her waist. "Ready?"

"Still here." Hermione declared with a huff of aggravation.

"Which is why my arm is free." James replied with a bland smile and an extended arm, which Hermione promptly took in fear of being left behind.

Landing back in front of the gates of Hogwarts, Grace shook her head as James and Hermione bickered lightly but violently before she got tired of the both of them and left them behind. The weather had turned colder the closer it got to December and Grace wasn't thrilled. She loved the changing of the leaves and she loved the snow, but the cold she could do without. Probably a side effect of never being quite warm enough with the Dursley's, she figured as she stuffed her cold hands in her pocket.

Feeling the press of paper on her left hand she frowned before taking it out. She frequently left odds and ends in her pockets, so something being in there wasn't a surprise per se (the amount of hair ties she found on a daily basis in her pockets astounded her, particularly as she couldn't remember owning that many and having never borrowed one before) but she couldn't remember putting any paper in there. When she looked at the small card in her hands, the first thought she had was that she had accidentally picked up one of the business cards for her attorneys. Something that made sense to her seeing as she had just had a meeting with them a few weeks ago. The writing on the card, however, made her stare at it in confusion.

_The Lord Council._

Now what the fuck was she supposed to do with that? Was this a warning or an invitation? And when had they even put it in her pocket? It rankled a little that she hadn't noticed because she was always acutely aware of who was near her. For the moment, she decided, she wasn't going to do a damn thing with this. She had enough to worry about at the minute without adding more to her plate, so she resolutely stuffed the card back into her coat, huffed in irritation and anger, and ignored the damn thing like the sensible person she was.

\---******---

Waking up the next morning was harder than anything Grace had had to do all week, and it was only Monday. Which was why she was staring blearily at her tea and listlessly eating her breakfast, absently patting Hedwig when she came down with the rest of the owls to deliver their mail. Thankfully Hedwig didn't have anything and seemed to only want some of Grace's time and bacon, two things she was happy to give her beloved owl.

"It's far too early for that amount of staring." Grace whined as she slumped down onto the table after Hedwig had taken off. She had ignored the staring earlier, but now without the Hedwig as a distraction it was hard to avoid.

Hermione snorted. "It's never too early for gossip, especially not this gossip."

"Do I want to know?" Grace asked, her voice muffled by her two arms.

"Depends. Are you interested in knowing that the rest of the world now knows that James Potter is alive and well?"

"No."

"Then no, you don't want to know."

"Well thank heavens for small mercies." Hermione simply hummed in an amused sort of way as Grace's brain came back online. "Wait. Did you say the world knows about James?"

"Did I? No, I don't think so, because if I did then I would have told you that that was the focus of today's papers and I distinctly remember you not wanting to know."

"Pure gossip." Fay stated with a rolling of her eyes as she sat down next to Grace.

"Is it gossip if it's true?" Ginny asked as she plopped down next to Hermione.

"Depends on how you look at it." Grace grumped. "And no, I don't want to look at it any which way."

"You're going to be asked about it, a lot." Ginny pointed out even as it slowly dawned on Fay that James Potter was, in fact, very much alive.

"And stared at, pointed at, gawped at, giggled at, you name it, it will happen to me."

"I wouldn't worry too much, there's bound to be something else that catches people's attention." Hermione said trying to sooth her.

"Like the fact that he's not actually my father and we're Courting?"

Ginny, who had just previously grabbed her tea and had taken a rather large gulp, promptly chocked and started to cough violently. Fay just shook her head and decided her life wasn't worth this amount of scandal in the morning and decided to sit somewhere else. Grace honestly wished she could change places with her.

Hermione grimaced but patted Ginny's back. "Cough it out first, then try to speak."

"You-Courting-Potter." Ginny managed.

"You remember a few months ago that you asked who I was Courting and I told you it was best to keep it a secret for now?"

"Yes!"

"Not much use of that soon enough."

"You think James planned this?" Hermione asked in a pondering tone.

"When has James bloody Potter not planned something within an inch of its life?" Grace groused.

Ginny hesitated. "That's a yes, right?"

"Yes, that's a yes. He's announced his return without him publicly announcing it so that when they do manage to grab him for an interview, he can happily tell the world that he's ever so confused why the world thinks I'm his daughter."

"That's..." Ginny trailed off with a small frown.

"James.” Grace uttered with feeling.

"You know, sometimes I don't know if that's his name or a new curse word you're trying out." Hermione said lightly.

Grace shrugged. "Does it need to be mutually exclusive?"

"You do know what that means though, right?" Ginny said, changing the subject.

"What what means?" Grace asked in confusion.

"Slughorn's party?" Ginny said with a smirk.

Grace groaned loudly. "Ugh, no! Do I have to think about that right now?"

"Yes! Because one, you've been hounded by these boys trying to get you to ask them to the party and two now you can take James without it being weird!" Ginny said excitedly.

"How is it still not weird? All he's managed to do is announce to the world that he's not dead, not that he's not my father." Grace looked away with a frown as she thought about what she just said. “You know what I mean! Nobody knows yet."

"How does that mean you can't take him?" Hermione asked, now getting into the conversation.

"Do you usually bring your parents to school parties?" Grace asked rhetorically.

"When you put it like that it sounds silly." Ginny mumbled.

"Then it sounds better than I intended." Grace snarked back.

"Be nice!" Hermione said as she smacked Grace on the arm.

"Besides, he's not your father." Ginny pointed out, a quick glance around her to check if anyone was listening to them.

"And nobody but us knows that." Grace pointed out.

"Think of it like this then: if you bring James, people will stop bothering you about being your date." Hermione said helpfully.

"They'd still ask because which sixteen year old girl at a boarding school out in Scotland brings her father to a party?"

"You really have a way with words don't you?" Ginny remarked impassively.

"How about this.” Hermione offered. “If you bring James then you can count it as your Courtship date for the week."

"That's...actually pretty persuasive."

"Thank you.” Hermione said with a proud smile. “Does that mean you two still haven't resolved your differences?"

"I'm not sure 'resolved' is the right word, but we've stopped bickering if that's what your wondering."

"I'd rather not wonder about the two of you at all." Hermione said shaking her head.

"Considering how the two of you act like oil and water, that's not very surprising. How is good old Viktor doing, by the way?" Grace asked faux-innocently.

"Prat. And he's doing just fine, thank you very much." Hermione replied loftily.

"Still going over there for Yule?"

"Yes. Anything else you'd like to know so you can deflect a little longer?"

"No."

"Fantastic."

"Whom are you going with then?" Parvati asked Hermione as she turned away from her conversation with Lavender and Padma, clearly having heard them talking about Slughorn’s party.

"Me? Cormac." Hermione said casually even as she smiled brightly at Lavender.

"Cormac McLaggen, Cormac?" Grace asked with a frown.

"Yes? Is there more than one of them?" Hermione asked innocently, looking at her with wide eyes.

"My Keeper?" Grace asked as her frown deepened.

"He's not your keeper, he's Gryffindor's Keeper." Parvati objected with a scoff.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right, that's nice, listen. That's not really a great idea."

"Why ever not?" Hermione asked lightly. "He's ever so gentlemanly."

"Yeah, why not?" Lavender echoed as she leaned towards Grace.

"Because he's a prat!" Grace shouted out in exasperation.

"He's a handsome prat." Padma stated factually, even though she seemed to agree with Grace.

"He's an idiot." Grace argued anyway.

"Still handsome." Hermione said with a shrug.

"You two are impossible!” Grace growled in frustration. “You're under contract."

"Contract?" The three girls parroted as their eyes widened and swivelled to Hermione.

"Thanks for that Grace. Yes, I have a Courtship contract and as it so happens, I've already asked my intended about this because I'm in a healthy relationship where we communicate honestly and openly with each other."

"And McLaggen won't mind being the substitute?" Ginny asked in genuine interest.

"He's in a contract himself. Besides, his parents are fairly strict about the whole thing, as I'm sure you know." Hermione added on, smiling at Lavender.

"Of course I know." Lavender stated sweetly. "Anyone who knows anyone knows that!"

"Why didn't you ask Ron?" Padma asked a little bemused by the undertones around her.

Hermione blinked at her in confusion. "Why would I ask him?"

"I thought you two had a thing? Is there not a thing?" Padma asked, looking from Hermione to Grace and back again.

"There was never a thing.” Hermione denied. “Friend only, although that's been nigh on negligent this year."

"I wouldn't mind going with Ron." Lavender piped up as she eyed up Hermione and Grace, both of whom gave her shocked expressions.

"Why?" Grace asked, not knowing what else to say.

"He's got all those wonderful Quidditch muscles." She said dreamily. "And if you two aren't interested..." She said leadingly.

"Have at it." Hermione replied with while as Grace snorted in disbelief.

"All yours." Grace echoed raising her hands in surrender.

Lavender squealed happily as she and Parvati bent their heads together as Padma rolled her eyes and shook her head in exasperation. Grace would have said something if a group of third year Ravenclaw’s hadn't come over and nervously shoved a newspaper at her.

"Thank you?" Grace said in confusion.

"We want to know if it's true!" A girl in the group piped up while the rest of them nodded in agreement.

Grace grit her teeth as she glared at the group in front of her. "And why should I tell you this?"

"Because we'll find out anyway?" A boy piped up.

Grace snorted. "If you'll find out, then why would I have to say anything?"

"Because we like knowing the truth." Another girl said forcefully, probably hoping that would make her answer.

"That's nice." Grace replied. "Also, that has nothing to do with me answering any of your questions. Now go away."

"But you have got to tell us!" A third girl whined miserably.

"No I haven't" Grace replied with a snarl. "Now go away before I hex the lot of you for being nosy!" She threatened before faking a lunge at the small group who jumped in fright and practically ran off, sending her dark looks over their shoulders.

"Just two more weeks of this and then we can enjoy Christmas." Hermione said with a sigh as she watched a giddy Lavender send happy smiles Ron's way.

"Yule." Grace corrected automatically as she glared right back at the fleeing third years.

"_Whatever_."

****

"And you want me to join you at this party?" James asked sceptically. "Despite you being angry with me for not treating your friend correctly."

Grace looked mildly pained. "Yes."

"But you don't really want me there, do you?" James asked, his face inscrutable.

Grace shrugged. "It's...a bit complicated really."

"Un-complicate it." James demanded.

"I hate it when people say that. Just because you explain it in different terms, does not negate the complicated nature you know." Grace complained with a scowl.

"I wouldn't know since I haven't the foggiest what you're going on about."

"The world knows you exist. And thanks for the heads up on that one, by the way."

"Once in a while the Prophet does get things right."

"As if you didn't make sure they did. Never mind that. The world knows you're alive again and I've been hounded about who I should take to Slughorn's party since I got the damned invites. And before you ask me, no it wasn't my first idea to invite you along. You are, after all, still my father in the eyes of, well, everyone really."

"Fair point, but that doesn't answer the question of why you want to invite me along if that's the case." James pointed out.

"Hermione pointed out that if we're seen together in a social setting that we can already start rumours of how close we are without-"

"That's a terrible idea." James interjected quickly.

"What? Why?" Grace cried out in protest.

"If I join you at this party as your father and not act as your father, then people will think we are having an incestuous affair."

"So I should tell people you're my date instead?"

"That's up to you, but if I am to join you then it will not be as your father. I don't intend to fill that role for you in any capacity as long as I live."

"Does that mean you're willing to come with me?"

"As your date." James stated with a short nod.

Grace sighed deeply. "Let me think about it."

****

Ron couldn't believe his ears as Ginny nattered on. Grace had asked someone to go with her? That couldn't be true because if she did ask someone, she would have asked _him_. Now that Remus was gone and she didn't see Potter anymore, he was in the free and clear. Adding to that the fact that James was apparently not her father and thus had no say in her life, well it was almost the perfect set of circumstances, wasn't it? James not being her father was confusing and made their closeness even more confusing, but wasn’t really his problem anymore. And that toss about her already being in a Courtship? A good way to keep blokes away from her, but Ron knew better.

It was time to start being a bit more forceful in taking what he wanted, what he was owed.

The only bump in the road was Lavender. For some reason she had started to hang around him, compliment him, touch him and want to be near him. All the things that Grace should have been doing. He liked the attention and liked even more that Grace was looking over at him more often now that Lavender was hanging about. Maybe using Hermione hadn't worked out because they were too close together, but Lavender? Jealousy wasn't as far off as people liked to think, not when Ron knew Grace better than she knew herself. He'd just have to see where this plan could take him. If all else failed, well, he had three weeks alone with her for Yule and New Years, didn't he? Time enough.

\---******---

Grace sighed as she ran a finger over the necklace James had given her for her birthday. She wasn't one for jewellery most of the time, but today she felt the need to show James where she stood as well as making it known to him how she would stand in the future. This, of course, only meant that she lost her nerve the moment she saw him. They had talked through most of their budding issues since the day she had given her ultimatum and while it wasn't great, it was leaps better than it had been. Which was, frankly, a relief since Grace really didn't know what she would have done if she'd had to give up on James. Not that that thought was healthy in any way and she was fully aware of how attached she was becoming to James and how much he enjoyed her attachment. They were a right pair, they were.

When Grace arrived at the Entrance Hall to pick James up, she noticed a usual amount of girls wandering about, all of them casting furtive looks to the open doors before huddling together and giggling madly. She almost turned around to go back to the dorms, but steeled herself before walking over to the open doors and noticed James eyeing the giggling girls with a mixture of exasperation and contempt.

"James." Grace announced, smiling as he saw her and his expression melted into a soft dazzling smile as he took in what she was wearing.

"You look lovely." He said softly as he took her hand in both of his. "This is a lovely green, really brings out your eyes." He complimented before kissing her hand and tucking it into the crook of his arm. “Shall we? Where is this illustrious party taking place?"

"Slughorn's office. Don't ask." Grace said in reply to James' dubious look. "I really wouldn't know why he does the things he does."

"The man really can't sound any more lecherous if he tried." James mumbled as he led her down to the dungeons. "At least you're here to protect me."

Grace laughed lightly, imagining standing in front of a cowering James and a larger than life Slughorn. "Let's hope it doesn't get that far." She joked as they arrived at Slughorn's office.

Grace had been to Snape's office a time or two (hello occlumency lessons from hell) and she was sure it had never looked like this before. It looked like those old Arabian movies aunt Petunia used to swoon over, where the Prince lived in some humongous tent in the desert that looked bigger than a house and far more spacious, draped in fabric and mysterious as far as the eye could see. If anything, Slughorn really knew how to set the mood. He certainly gave off the Yule vibes by using red and green colouring, a touch of gold and silver dotted around as accents that left Grace a bit impressed with his style. The place had already been filled with several people Grace had never seen before, a few of her fellow students, and several house-elves who were expertly moving between groups of guests while handling trays of either food or beverages.

"What is that smell?" James asked with a scrunched up nose as they lingered in the door opening.

Grace took a deep sniff and shrugged. "Potpourri?" She guessed. "Maybe it's got something to do with the smoke." She pointed out, nodding towards the pipe smoke hanging over a group of men across the room. "Maybe it's scented smoke. You can do that, can't you?"

"Probably. We're wizards, and more to the point, Slughorn is a Potions Master. I'm sure it would be easy to whip up if he really wanted to." James conceded even as he tried wafting the scent away from him.

"Are those fairies?" Grace asked as a speck of light caught her eye.

"Yes." Luna replied, appearing out of nowhere and causing both James and Grace to jump in fright. "The professor caught them just yesterday. They weren't too pleased until he promised them honey for the next fortnight if they hung about."

"Huh." Grace stated as she turned back to look for more lights that indicated a fluttering fairy while James was giving Luna a suspicious once-over.

"It's just too bad the Flibberghasts ate all the honey after he checked his stock." Luna said with a dreamy smile.

"That's not great?" Grace tried hesitantly.

"Oh, it's terrible.” Luna agreed with a happy smile. “There will be a revolt when they find out."

"Oh, er, that sounds bad." Grace said with an agreeing nod.

"Only if you're the professor." Luna remarked.

"I'm sorry, but how do you know this?" James asked, a mixture of disbelief and curiosity that usually happened around Luna.

“Because the Flibberghasts told me of course." Luna said wisely before waving to someone in the crowd and disappearing from view.

"Aha." James uttered, staring resolutely at the wall.

"It's alright." Grace said soothingly as she gently patted his arm. "That's just Luna."

"Grace! There you are! And who have you brought with you? But...no! It can't be! James Potter! Alive and well! I had read about you in the papers of course, but one can never be sure what's true and what isn't. This is a real treat." Slughorn interrupted before James could reply.

"It truly is." James nodded gravely, clearly having the time of his life already.

"What a surprise! Always doing the unexpected, this one. Well, don't linger, come in, come in! I've got some people to introduce you to!"

"Oh no." Grace said, apprehension making her stiffen slightly as Slughorn tugged her along, his grip tight enough that she knew she would have needed to do him physical harm to get him to let go of her. James somehow managed to manoeuvre himself between Grace and Slughorn and forced the professor to let go of Grace or make a scene. James glared fiercely at Slughorn who blinked back in surprise before chuckling in a slightly uncomfortable manner.

"Grace, James, I'd like you to meet Eldred Worple."

"The author?" James asked, reaching out to shake the other mans hand even as he kept Grace behind him.

"You've read my books!" Mr. Worple stated in delight as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

"And of course you've heard of his companion Sanguini." Slughorn said, gesturing to the tall man next to Worple.

"Erm, yes?" Grace nodded unsurely, eyeing up the hungry looking man who was staring at her with an intent that made her feel like prey.

"I hear you two know each other, James?" Slughorn asked as he leaned towards James in his interest.

"Do we? I think I'd remember meeting a vampire." James replied mildly as Grace tried not to choke on her own spit in surprise. A vampire!

"Well, he's here with the most delightful fellow, let me tell you. "

"James."

"Sanguini."

"And this must be the woman you risked it all for." The vampire stated, eyes boring into Grace's.

Grace was distracted when Mr. Worple stepped right up to her and shook her hand vigorously. "A delight, Ms. Potter! Simply a delight. I was, of course, hoping to meet you tonight. I was just saying the exact thing to Horace."

"Who?"

"Professor Slughorn."

"Ah, right. You were?"

"Why of course! We've all been waiting for a rather long time for your biography!"

"My what?"

"Oh, you are as modest as Horace assured me. No need for that around me, Ms. Potter. As your date said earlier, I am an author and I would be only too delighted in helping you write your story. We could do a few one-on-ones, really get into the meat of who you are."

"My story? What story?" Grace asked, a slight panic to her voice as her eyes grew large.

"Your biography, the story of your life! I have been known to write a few biographies for other people and it would be such a pleasure to write yours. No fuss on your part at all, simply a few interviews here and there, several five hour sessions of course to be able to really dive into your physique, and we could be done in a matter of months."

"Not interested." James growled suddenly, stepping up next to her and sliding a firm arm around her waist as he pulled her in close. "I see an acquaintance of mine, excuse me." He stated tersely before guiding her away from Mr. Worple and the hungry looking vampire.

"Well, this party is off to a great start." Grace said sarcastically. "Luna was more fun than that lot. You don't suppose they're all like that, are they?" Grace asked as they stopped by a house-elf holding a tray of drinks.

"They better not be." James replied darkly as he grabbed two glasses and handed one over to Grace who drank half of its contents in go before sighing in relief.

"Grace! There you are!" A voice called urgently.

Grace turned to see a fraying Hermione almost run up to them. "Hermione?"

"James, lovely to see you." Hermione stated with a polite nod, a step up from the frosty glare she gave him on their last Courtship date.

"Lord McKinnon." James replied politely with a nod before taking a sip from his glass.

"Why do you look so..." Grace trailed off as she waved her hand about in a scattered motion.

"That would be because of McLaggen. I've just gotten away from him, left him under the mistletoe-"

"Oh no, there's mistletoe?!" Grace moaned out in distress.

"Yes, that's the important part." Hermione wailed sarcastically. "Never mind the octopus that McLaggen turned into."

"Serves you right. I told you it was a bad idea." Grace uttered dispassionately.

"He's in a contract, it was safe!" Hermione said distressed.

Grace snorted into her drink. "Nothing's safe with him."

"Well it was either him or Zacharias Smith-"

"Oh not him!" Grace wailed out in horror.

"Stop interrupting me!" Hermione cried out shrilly, her hair fraying a bit more around the edges. She visibly tried to pull herself together before continuing. "But Smith would take it the wrong way despite being in a contract as well and we all know how strict McLaggen's parents are about his contract."

"His hands didn't get the memo then?" James stated blankly.

"Nobody knows about my Lordship so he seemed to think it was ok to... well you know." Hermione sighed out as the small silence stretched out as both James and Grace refused to interrupt her.

"You're well rid of him now. Let's find some food and hopefully have a sort of good time, if we manage to avoid everyone possible." Grace told her as she patted Hermione on her upper arm in commiseration.

"The room is filled with people, darling." James pointed out helpfully before Grace slapped her arm into his stomach and he oompf-ed at the impact. "I'll go find us something to eat then, shall I?"

"Hermione." Grace said as she pulled Hermione slightly to the side as soon as James had disappeared into the crowd. "Did you interfere with my Quidditch try-outs?" Grace asked, something she had been quietly wondering about when Ron had served the wrong way at the very last second. It hadn't seemed suspicious at the time, but something still felt off about it.

Hermione frowned in confusion. "Why would I do that?"

"Because you knew I didn't want Ron on the team." Grace said pointedly.

"I honestly didn't have to do anything. That was all him."

"He did great!" Grace objected.

"And you still choose McLaggen." Hermione pointed out.

"Yes, because Ron missed his free shot and McLaggen didn't. He seemed a bit disoriented after, like he was confused." Grace said hinting.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Hermione huffed out.

"You better not have because if he catches wind of this and I have to put him back on the team..."

"Is that really what's most important to you right now? Quidditch?"

"Is there something you'd rather be talking about?"

"YES! How about how to get rid of McLaggen and keep him bloody away-shite, here he comes!" Hermione screeched lowly before darting away into the crowd.

"Quick on her feet, that one." James remarked with amusement as he appeared next to Grace with a plate filled with food.

"When she wants to be." Grace said as she rolled her eyes and accepted a bite of whatever James had just offered her.

"Where's Hermione?" McLaggen almost demanded as he walked up to Grace and James.

"You mean Lord McKinnon?" James asked with a pointedly sharp look.

"No, I mean Hermione."

"So Lord McKinnon then. No I have not seen her."

"Who is this Lord McKinnon? I'm looking for Granger."

"Bloody hell McLaggen, keep up. Hermione is Lord McKinnon." Grace sighed out, wondering if choosing him as keeper really was the better option of the two as he stared at her blankly.

"Granger is Lord McKinnon?"

"Congratulations." James drawled. "It seems you do have a single active brain cell. Remarkable."

"But she can't be."

"I was wrong." James lamented theatrically before ignoring McLaggen completely.

"Why not?" Grace asked, wondering if she could just ignore him too.

"Because she's my date."

"Which means she can't be Lord McKinnon?"

"No, because Lord McKinnon is in a contract."

"And?"

"That's illegal! She can't accept my hand in-"

"Accept your hand? Get off it." Grace scoffed. "She had a proper conversation with her intended before she even approached you. Everyone knows your parents are almost maniacal about your contract so she figured you were a safe bet. Who knew you were one of those scum feeders who thinks it's ok to use muggleborns like that."

McLaggen didn't say anything but turned a dark shade of red before turning from them and wandering away.

"You've got quite the tongue on you."

Grace huffed. "You really shouldn't be talking seeing as you did the exact same thing with mum."

"A life time ago."

"Mine, to be exact."

"Is this going to turn into a fight?" He inquired lightly.

"No." Grace sighed regretfully. "He's just riled me up and I might be taking it out on you."

"Thank Morgana he's gone." Hermione sighed out, making both James and Grace jump in surprise.

"Where the fuck did you just come from?" Grace panted out, a hand over her racing heart while James glared at Hermione.

"I circled around till I was behind him. Can't spot me if he thinks I'm in front of him, can he?"

"You're the worst." Grace declared with a weak glare before turning back to James, who had somehow managed to engage Professor Trelawney in conversation in the short time she had turned away.

"Ugg." Hermione moaned out in aggravation once she'd seen where Grace had been looking. "Trelawney."

"Didn't you get over that last year when she got kicked out and everything?"

"Didn't last. The woman is insufferable. It makes it really easy to keep a grudge, let me tell you."

"Grace Potter!"

"Ah no." Grace uttered dejectedly. "Why me? Why always me?"

"You sound like Neville." Hermione muttered even as she elbowed Grace in the side.

"Says the woman who just moaned about disliking a teacher."

"It's not even a proper class! There's absolutely no basis behind teaching it, whatsoever!"

"My dear girl!" Professor Trelawney continued, taking no notice of Grace and Hermione's conversation. "I'm so glad to have caught you! The omens...they are so very dark, Grace! You, the Chosen One! Which I of course knew but could never tell you. The burdens of the second sight, my dear. Which is why I must urge you to come back to class! It is of utmost importance!"

"Oh." Grace said on a nod. "That's...yeah." Hermione turned away to try and stifle her giggles while James looked on in dawning horror.

"Sybill! You seem to have caught the two most interesting people here tonight! Did I hear you speaking of classes? I think we can all agree how very talented our Grace is, can't we?" A very red looking Slughorn announced loudly, taking a rather large gulp of the drink he had in his hand.

"Can we?" Snape asked quietly, taking a long sinister look at Grace before transferring his poisonous gaze to James.

"Oh of all the luck." Grace murmured forlornly as Hermione practically shook beside her trying desperately to hold her laughter in.

"Ah, Severus! You wouldn't believe the talent young Grace has, so like her mother. She must have learned so much from you."

Snape sneered at Grace. "It's a wonder Potter is able to learn anything, if she did it certainly did not come from me."

"A natural ability! Remarkable really! Do you suppose she gets anything from you James?"

James turned his death glare from Snape to plaster on a polite smile before turning to Slughorn. "What was that, Horace? It was hard to hear over the stench of jealousy."

"You-" Snape started.

"Oh hoho! Still have that school boy rivalry, do we?" Slughorn chortled out as he pushed Snape over to another group, seemingly more interested in James now and clearly divining that if Snape stayed it would devolve in a fight. For a drunken man, he was still very observant. "Never mind that, I heard something far more interesting! Besides you being alive that is!" He laughed heartily.

"And what would that be?" James asked in a polite tone that Grace knew meant he was close to being completely done with the other man.

"That you are not actually the father of this wonderful girl here."

"Now how did you hear that?"

"I can't have you knowing all my secrets, my boy! But I will say that I get a delightful package from an old student around Yule every year and this year he happened to pass on a little more with those treats."

"Quite the network you've amassed there."

"Nonsense, nonsense! Merely a few devoted students who like to remember their old professor! So is it true then?" Slughorn asked eagerly.

"I'm afraid that's private." James replied mildly, pulling Grace in closer, placing his arm around her waist and resting it on her hip. Grace frowned a little since that wasn't quite Courtship approved, but understood why James thought it was the easiest route to take instead of outright saying anything. This was he could still retract his statement if necessary.

"Oh ho!" Slughorn chuckled with an exaggerated wink before a slight commotion started behind him and he wandered off to see what it was all about.

"Some friend you are." Grace said mulishly as Hermione finally turned around after attempting to pull herself together.

"I-didn't-can't-go." Hermione struggled out before she disappeared half stumbling half laughing, into the crowd.

"I hope she meets McLaggen." Grace declared vindictively as she glared at the spot Hermione disappeared from view.

"That's not very nice."

"Sod nice. The least she could have done was get me out of there."

"And left me there?"

"Happily. Besides, you like riling him up." Grace said with a nod towards Snape as she leaned against James for warmth and comfort.

"True. Still, a betrayal like that... We should find somewhere quiet and discuss it." James said leadingly.

Grace snorted. "You trying something?"

"Is it working?"

"Not even a little." Grace replied smiling widely.

"We should definitely take this somewhere a little more private." James muttered quietly as he traced the side of her face with a light finger.

"What about Hermione? I'm supposed to be chaperoning her."

James huffed out a small laugh. "Darling, if she meant to have a chaperone, she would have chosen someone else."

"Meaning what, exactly?" Grace asked affronted.

"Meaning you told her you were going with me. It's not done to have a chaperone needing her own chaperone."

"Because it splits her attention." Grace said with a nod of understanding. "Still, I feel a little bad."

"I wouldn't worry about it. She'll likely head back to her room soon enough. Why she just didn't leave earlier, I have no idea."

"She's in a huff with Lavender. Probably wants to stay as long as possible to prove a point."

"Then clearly she doesn't need us. Shall we retire ourselves?" James asked lightly, his eyes illuminated by a passing fairy, making them glow in the low light.

"I hear this place has a couple of unused classrooms." Grace replied with a wild eyebrow wiggle that made James laugh before tugging her out of the room and into the first deserted classroom they could find. Grace turned around as they walked through the threshold and pushed James against the wall, watching in amusement as his eyebrows rose in question and surprise.

"We haven't really solved anything between us." Grace breathed out on a whisper, lips so close to James' she could feel every breath he took.

"We don't need to solve them right this second. Are you willing, Grace?"

"Willing?"

"Are you alright with this? With me kissing you?"

"I rather the question is whether or not you're alright with being taken advantage of."

"Oh, I think I could find a way to live with it."

She smiled wickedly as she leaned in, brushing her lips against his in a feather-like touch that had him following even as she put some distance between them.

"Patience." She murmured softly as she pushed him back again.

"You're going to be the death of me." He groaned.

"Only for a little while. Besides," she continued as she pressed her lips to his before licking his bottom lip and tugging it between her teeth. "you'll like it."

"I'll love it." He replied huskily, laying his hands on her waist just to hold her.

Grace threaded her hands in his hair, tugging his head closer before devouring his mouth, taking what she wanted for once while he became pliant in her arms. She shifted minutely in his arms and gasped softly when her hip met something a little harder than it had been before. Breaking the kiss she smiled wickedly into his eyes as he narrowed his eyes in warning.

"You're playing a dangerous game darling."

"Maybe I only play the games I know how to win." She replied on a breath as she stepped closer to him and deliberately rolled her hips. His hands snaked around her waist and tightened their hold, a warning not to push but she was happy to ignore the silent warning as she tugged him back for a kiss.

A loud banging had them almost jumping apart, looking around to find the source of the noise and instead finding two hissing figures just a few feet away from them. It was Malfoy and Snape, the former looking unhappy while the latter seemed furious.

"-even know what you're doing!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Malfoy replied, looking resentful at being there at all.

"Of all the stupid ideas to have-"

"It's not really any of your business though, is it?"

"If _he_ told you to do this-"

"It's got nothing to do with him! I've got a plan and it's going exactly the way it should. It would be even better if you'd stop poking your nose into it every three seconds!"

"I'm trying to help you. You have no idea how dangerous this game your playing is-" Snape cut off, either having sensed their presence or having seen James move minutely in the corner of his eye. "Lumos!" He hissed, his angry expression turning downright black when he spotted James and Grace. "You!" Snape spat out in hatred.

Malfoy looked uncomfortable before deciding whatever was going to happen was something he was better off not being involved in, so he quietly slipped out the door under Grace's exasperated look. He shrugged at her before leaving her to deal with two men who hated each other's very existence.

"Snivellus." James greeted darkly.

"Potter." Snape sneered back, his wand suddenly in his hand.

"Well." Grace declared awkwardly. "This has been all kinds of terrible and I really should be heading for bed now. James, if you will?" Grace said as she gestured for James to accompany her.

"I think not, Potter. Detention." Snape barked out.

"For what?" Grace demanded in outrage. "I did nothing wrong!"

"A parent on school grounds?" Snape asked silkily.

"Which Professor Dumbledore allowed, otherwise he wouldn't be here!"

"Still up to your old games, are you?" James interjected before Sanpe could retort. "Couldn't bully me anymore so you tried my Grace here. Seems like you grew up to be a real man, Snivvy, like your father."

"You dare-I will kill you."

"You can try. Greater men than you have, after all, and look where that's gotten them."

"You may pride yourself on your pathetic excuse of a spawn but those who are important know the truth. She will never be more than she is now." Snape taunted viciously.

The silence was deafening, filled the room and allowed no other sounds as Grace sucked in a painful breath.

"There are some things said that you wish you could take back later," Grace whispered at she stared at the man who could have been her father, "but by the time you realize you want to take them back it will be far too late for that to happen." She didn't wait for an answer as she walked out the room and into the darkness of the hallway; the only thing on her mind was getting as far away as possible. She'd had enough for one night. One thing that Grace knew now with her whole heart was that she would never tell Snape the truth. He didn't deserve it.

\---******---

"Grace." Dumbledore said kindly as she walked in.

"You wanted a word sir?" Grace asked with a small smile.

"I did. I believe one of our previous conversations included speaking with a professional."

"A professional? Sir?"

"To help you with Sirius' passing."

"Oh! Right, I remember. Does that mean your contacts came through, sir?"

"I must confess that one of them simply didn't have the means or the time to spare but as luck should have it the other three did."

"That's great sir, thank you so much!"

"These are their contacts, and if I'm not mistaken, each of them has written you a letter of introduction to be replied at your leisure. While it is important to stay on top of one's mental well-being, it is also important to do so at your own pace." Grace smiled as she accepted the letter and nodded in appreciation. "Now onto more serious matters."

Grace nodded. "Of course sir."

"I have gathered that there are a few things that you need to discuss with me."

"There are?” Grace asked as she wracked her brain trying to think what those things might be. “I'm not sure what those things are."

"I heard that you have discovered your parentage." Dumbledore said, looking at her over his half-moon glasses.

"My...parentage, sir?" Grace asked a little confused, heart stuttering at the thought that he might _know_.

"Professor Snape." Dumbledore prompted.

"Snape." Grace parroted as she froze in her seat. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Arthur Weasley pulled me aside a few days ago, told me he was worried about your state of mind after finding out the truth behind your birth."

"Uh huh." Grace said on a nod, wondering if you could kill someone mentally while also wondering what the implications were of Professor Dumbledore knowing one of her biggest secrets. "Mr. Weasley did, did he?"

Professor Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "I was a little worried that you hadn't come to me."

"This has nothing to do with you.” Grace bristled. “This was between myself and James."

"And your mother and Professor Snape. One of those who is still alive." Professor Dumbledore pointed out gently.

"And has no idea he's a father at all." Grace interjected hotly. "I'm the one who knows, I'm the one who has to live with this knowledge and whatever I choose to do with it."

"It is not that simply Grace." Dumbledore stated firmly, a reprimand in his eyes that made her bristle in anger.

"Where are you going with this? Because I know this isn't you trying to get us to play happy family." Grace said shrewdly.

"You are correct, that is indeed not my intention. I'm afraid I'm going to have to push you to inform Professor Snape of your familial relation."

"I'm sorry, what?" Grace asked as she leaned forwards, sure she hadn’t heard him correctly.

"I shall the precise time in your hands, but I must pressure you to tell Professor Snape the truth, sooner rather than later. Preferably before the Easter holidays."

"I don't see how this is any concern of your or his." Grace replied tersely, fists at her side and anger slowly boiling away.

"War isn't just physical fighting, Grace. If Tom learns of your connection to Professor Snape before Professor Snape himself, it would put his life in grave danger."

"How would he even find out?" Grace demanded hotly.

"Despite your best efforts, more people than you had thought now know. You cannot control who the people you confide in choose to confide in themselves. Secrets, I have found, are very hard to keep secret without proper incentive."

"Blackmail?"

"I think a vow would have been more effective."

"No." Grace stated shortly. "You. You're blackmailing me."

Dumbledore had the audacity to look shocked. "Absolutely not! I am doing this for your future, for your survival, and for your happiness."

"So what happens when this 'deadline' of your passes and I still haven't told him?"

"Then I shall be forced to tell him myself."

"So. Blackmail." Grace stated between clenched teeth.

"Grace, this had devolved rather quickly. Why don't we sit down and discu-"

"No, I think we're done here." She stated furiously as she stood up. "I thought, after last year, that you were through trying to plan my life without my consent seeing as how that turned out. To find out now that not only did you not learn a fucking thing but you've got the audacity to try again? I can't believe I ever trusted you. How dare you. How dare you!"

"Grace, if you would wait a moment-" Dumbledore replied heavily, but Grace was having none of it and was already halfway out the door before he even started his sentence.

All these months of 'lessons' and telling her that he trusted her, then turning around and doing this. And Mr. Weasley! She hadn't ever expected him to stab her in the back like this. What was she supposed to do now?

****

"Grace? What happened? You're practically a ghost." Hermione gasped as she jumped to her feet and lead Grace straight to their room.

"It's Dumbledore. He...Mr. Weasley, he told." Grace stuttered out, barely aware of her surroundings as she let Hermione take care of her.

"Told? What do you mean? Told who? Told what?" Hermione coaxed gently.

"Dumbledore. Mr. Weasley. No. Gods, I'm making a mess of this aren't I?"

"Take a deep breath. Now, start at the beginning."

"Dumbledore called me into his office. I thought it would be another lesson, like before you know, but it wasn't."

"He wanted to discuss something else?" Hermione guessed.

Grace nodded. "Mr. Weasley told him James isn't my father."

"Mr. Weasley told Professor Dumbledore that Professor Snape is." Hermione stated, a dawning look of understanding on her face.

"Right. You know how pushy he's become ever since I told him."

"Mr. Weasley?"

"That's why I don't want to be alone with him anymore. He keeps pushing."

"He told Professor Dumbledore without your consent, didn't he?" Hermione asked shocked.

"Dumbledore gave me a time limit. If I don't tell him before Easter holidays, he will."

"They can't do that! It's got nothing to do with them!"

"He's going to tell Hermione, and I can't stop them. Snape is going to know, he's going to know everything!"

"You can bloody well stop them! You're a Lord Grace! This could be classified as House business. Sick the goblins on them!"

"What?"

"The goblins! Get them to send an injunction."

"Isn't that an attorney thing?"

"Yes, fine, but the goblins are scarier and right now you need scary. They have no right!"

Why did this keep happening to her? Grace wondered idly as she cradled her head in her hands. Why was she continually put into positions where the only thing she could feel was impotent anger at the fact that these adults had decided what was best for her without including her own wishes into that equation.

It was one of the things that made her so angry with James and why their fight had lasted all these long months. Growing up with the Dursley’s she had learned to 'yes Uncle Vernon' and 'No Aunt Petunia' all her life. There was no escape from those people and her defiance had cost her more than it had won her. Here, in the Wizarding world where people expected her to be someone else, it had been safe for her to stand up to these people and tell them that she wasn't going to back down. She wasn't ever going to be stopped or silenced anymore because the consequences here were far less than they had been with the Dursley’s. Even with Umbridge, may she suffer in hell for all eternity, the cost of her defiance hadn't outweighed her need to defy the blatant silencing.

She was never going to be silenced again, she was never going nod and agree and wonder how much longer she could survive. She was surviving, she had survived, and now she was going to thrive and every little second of her standing up for herself was worth everything. But here she was, being told 'no', being told what to do and what to say, and it was bloody ingrained in her very being to just nod her head and agree. Part of her wanted to, part of her just wanted everything out in the open but the cold hard truth was that she didn't owe any of these people anything.

They hadn't done anything for her and now she was supposed to upend her entire life on their say-so? Because they were the adults and knew better? They didn't know a damned thing.

She wasn't going to tell Snape anything, and she would make sure that they couldn't either. This wasn't their business but they had made it theirs and now it was time for her to show them exactly who Lord Grace Lily Black-Gryffindor was.

She was going to the goblins.

"Yes. Ok. I'll get an injunction. That will stop them all, right? Make them back off?"

"It'll do more than that. It will prevent them from speaking about it until you state otherwise."

"What a mess!" Grace uttered on a sob. "Why do they keep doing this to me?" Hermione had no answers for her and held her closer as they rocked together in comfort as Grace continued to sob out her betrayal of trust and faith.

"Well." Hermione said softly once the tears had dried. "I think it's time we started to look a bit closer into Dumbledore's past, don't you?"

\---******---

"There's nothing to worry about just yet." Albus soothed the members of the Order.

"Nothing to worry about? Emmeline's been found in front of the minister's office, for Merlin's sake! Vampires, Albus! And you're telling us not to worry? We haven't heard hide or hair from either Hagrid nor Remus in months now!" Benjy cried out.

"I understand this is difficult, but we must not lose hope now." Albus stressed urgently. "Voldemort has only started his campaign. We must prepare for any eventuality."

"What exactly are you saying? That it will get worse? Our numbers are already low and now we are being deliberately targeted!" Dorcas said worriedly.

"This is war!” Dedalus declared fiercely. “If we do nothing then death will be assured. The general population may know he's back now but they've done nothing to either oppose him or secure their own safety."

"So we must? We cannot defend everyone." Sturgis remarked calmly.

"We have families of our own that we must take into consideration." Arthur added as he looked towards his wife.

"We are the first and last line of defence. We must do all that we can, rally as many people behind as we can while we still have the time." Albus interjected, hoping to calm everyone down.

"Just because the man fears you does not mean we should just rally behind you!" Benjy stated again, his fear clear to see.

"I understand your fears, but this is not the time for dissention amongst ourselves. We must stand together! Voldemort will murder us all if he's given even the slightest of chances." Albus stated forcefully.

"So that means dealing with creatures?” Hestia snorted. “Do we really want them on our side?"

"Be careful Hestia, those are not words to be uttered in my presence. They are still living beings and deserve as many rights as the rest of us." Albus warned her gravely.

"And what of Remus, Hagrid? Any news from them?" Bill asked worriedly.

Albus sighed heavily. "I've heard from Hagrid just yesterday, he's alive and well. He's trying to envoy the giants but is trying to keep himself hidden. He's spotted some Death Eaters trying to coax the giants to their side, just as we are."

"Merlin." Molly said as she sat down heavily.

"How is Remus fairing then? Recruiting against Greyback can't be easy, even in normal times." Dorcas pointed out.

"I haven't heard from Remus since he left." Albus confessed heavily.

"And that hasn't concerned you?" Bill asked with a frown.

"It has concerned me greatly but we currently have no way of tracking him. It was an enormously dangerous job and he wished for as little contact as possible."

"But no contact at all?" Dedalus protested, clearly uncomfortable with the idea that Remus was on his own.

"I fear the worst." Albus confessed. "But until we get a sign, one way or the other, I must implore you all to steer the course. This is only the beginning and it will get worse. We must gather our forces as swiftly as possible."

“So what do we do?” Benjy asked though his tone was more demanding.

"Continue as we have, spread the word as much as possible and try to influence as many people as possible. We're already watching the key people in the Ministry for signs of the imperious and those under stress." Albus looked around the room, saw the hardened and dejected faces and knew nothing more would come of this meeting. "Let's end here tonight. Go home and regroup, get a good night's rest and start fresh in the morning. You all have your assignments, but by Merlin _be careful_. Do not attract unnecessary attention to yourself."

There was a light chatter as people stood and left the room, more looking wrung out and exhausted these days and it made Albus' heart heavy knowing the battles to come.

"Severus, a word before you leave." Albus said, calling out to Severus over the noise of everyone leaving.

"Of course." Severus stated and stayed seated as the rest filed out of the room. He turned to look at Albus, dark eyes betraying nothing. "Something on your mind, Albus?"

"We need to have a word about Grace." Albus stated seriously.

\---******---

The spikes of anger had smoothed.

The bite of revenge was soothed.

The trust was still broken.

She was done hiding now. She was ready to step into the dark. She was ready to take down the people who had burned her, scorned her, hurt her.

The blood demanded repayment.

The hurt demanded retribution.

The pain demanded agony.

It was her right. It was her boon. It was her command.

Now it would be her will.

They thought to take, they thought to rip, they thought to tear, they forget to think. They had drawn battle lines. They had shed her trust. They had ignored her words.

Now they would face her as the thing they had made her of.

Now they would tremble when her name was mentioned.

Now she had broken their chains.

Had she fallen yet?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, I never really know where I'm going when I start writing. Ok, no, I know where I'm going but the details always seem to surprise the heck out of me, which also means that some chapters I'm just not as satisfied with, like this one. So I hope it wasn't as bad as I'm making it out to be in my brain since I went through a lot here. Thanks for reading!


	13. Wash My Sins Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A heads-up for next time: I'll be having to skip the chapter in November because it's going to be kind of a crazy month for me and I don't feel like compromising my chapters because of it, so the next update will be in December.  
Not completely happy with the editing, but I'll get back to it some time later.

“Albus?” Benjy interrupted before Albus could contemplate what he wanted to say to Severus.

“Benjy. Can this wait, I need a word with Severus.” Albus stated sternly.

The other man shook his head and looked sadly at the two men. “I'm afraid not, Albus. It's about Remus.”

“Remus?” Albus asked in surprise. “You have news?”

Benjy went to answer when Severus hissed in agony and clenched his fists. “Albus, I must take my leave.”

“Of course. Do what you must, Severus.” Albus stated heavily, keeping stern eye contact until Severus nodded and left the room. Albus sighed heavily and turned back to Benjy. “What of Remus?”

“He's been found.”

“I gather it's not the news we were hoping for.”

“He's dead, Albus, and that's not the worst of it. It looks like it was a vampire.”

Albus looked surprised at that. “A vampire? Are you sure?”

“They're sending his body over. This is bad Albus.” Benjy warned heavily. “If it comes out that the vampires are tracking and attacking werewolves now...”

Albus sighed heavily. “We will have to prepare appropriately when the time comes. Speculation is always worse when one doesn't have the facts on hand. When can we have access to his remains?”

“In a few days.” Benjy admitted heavily.

Albus looked at Benjy sharply. “Days? Why so long?”

“He was found in Bulgaria.” The other man replied slowly, as if trying to soften the news.

“Bulgaria? What on earth was he doing there?”

Benjy shrugged helplessly. “He might have been following a lead, but Kingsley thinks that his body was placed there. I don't know what the purpose of that would be other than to confuse us.”

Albus sighed deeply. “We can only speculate until we are in possession of his remains. Suffice to say that it is probably a macabre game of misdirection.”

“Or a warning.”

“Or a warning.” Albus conceded. “But to what degree?” Albus shook himself and turned his eyes back to Benjy. “Inform me when his remains return. We'll need to see them before we make any conclusions about his death.”

“So we wait?”

“So we wait.”

\---******---

So what happens now? Hermione asked as they watched the letter Grace inked fly away to her attorneys.

After a rather short debate, Grace managed to get her head on straight and use the people she employed to do the actual attorney thing instead of paying triple the price. Yes, the goblins were good and scary, but at the end of the day the documents that her attorneys would be issuing were magically binding. They would simply be unable to say a word about it until Grace said it first.

“Now? Now I get to feel pressured into deciding what I want to do and when I want to do it.” Grace said with a disparaging snort.

“Em...what?”

“I never wanted to tell him. Well,” she amended, “I wanted to be the one that got the _choice_ of whether or not to tell him.”

“That makes sense. I mean, morally speaking it's a doozy, but I'm with you.”

“Screw morals. Morals have done nothing for me so far.”

“So what has?” Hermione asked softly.

Grace sighed long and loud. “No idea, but I'm done letting adults try and tell me what to do. Not just this time either, but I'm done hiding who I've become and what I'm going to be after the war. I'm tired of letting people control me, I'm tired of people thinking they know what's best for me based on one small segment of my life. I'm a _Lord_. I have power now, _we_ have power now, and I'm past letting take advantage of me.”

Hermione looked confused. “You're coming out?”

“Not exactly. James already told the world he was back from the dead. Maybe now is the right time to let everyone know that he's not my father.”

Hermione frowned heavily. “Is that really the step you want to be taking? You're trying to get Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley to stop telling you what to do, and now you're just going to announce it?”

“Bad idea?”

“I mean, it's taking your fate into your own hands, sure, but it's also not what you wanted to do.”

“What are you suggesting then?”

“Keep it simple and only tell them you're a Lord now. Twice over, for that matter, and for a line everybody thought was dead.”

“What's the point of that?”

“First of all, you'll be setting yourself up as a separate person to Mr. James Potter, Grace Potter's father back from the dead. Second of all, you'll be known as someone of status and someone important to the ways of the Wizarding world.”

“The Purebloods will love that.”

“Not to mention how the Death Eaters might lose ground once it also comes out that the Girl-Who-Lived's mudblood friend is actually a descendent from the McKinnon line. If I can be from a magical line, who else is too?”

“Are you really starting a campaign against the Death Eaters while trying to solve my problems too?” Grace asked in surprise.

“Eh, once I get going it's hard to stop.” Hermione said with a shrug. “I have great ideas sometimes.”

“Do these great ideas involve how to get the story out there without us giving an interview?”

“Ah,” Hermione nodded in understanding, “to avoid the bias of the interview, get a third party to do it for you. Sure, we can do that. Who are you thinking of?”

“Well, you know how the school is full of gossips and you saw how that turned out in the Wizengamot right?”

Hermione furrowed her brow. “You want to tell someone here and have them spread it around enough to get back to the papers?”

Grace shrugged. “Got a better idea?”

“We could always get Malfoy to do it, he's been trying to get closer to you for ages.”

Grace wrinkled her nose. “No. Nope. Absolutely not. He's a prat and I'm not giving him any chances to get closer to us. Besides that, once it comes out that Malfoy said it, the story might not be taken seriously at all.”

“You know that we're the only ones who know that his parents are Death Eaters right? The rest of the world still thinks that they're the 'it' couple.”

“He went to Azkaban!”

“For a few months, that's hardly anything. And then he managed to get people to believe him when he said it was all a big misunderstanding.”

“Ug, Malfoy's.” Grace said with feeling as Hermione merely nodded along with her.

“The train leaves tomorrow, why don't we just loudly proclaim our new inheritances at every opportunity and then see what happens?”

“I...is that really our best plan?”

“We don't really have a better one, and to be honest, Hogwarts is the worst hub of gossip I've ever encountered. Sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't have been easier if we were boys so that this sort of thing just flew over our heads.”

“I don't think it would though.”

“You think we'd care more?”

“I think we'd have at least one Pureblood friend who would tell us 'important' news that pertained to other purebloods that girls generally don't think about.”

“Like what?”

“Like what exactly is going to happen to Munslow now? I mean, if he were a girl he'd be married off to a foreign wizard, wouldn't he? But the rules are slightly different for men and regardless of whether or not Lavender is right about his parents trying for another heir, he is currently their only option to further their line.”

“So he'd have to get married after Hogwarts, one way or another.”

“Right. Only, how important is that to them? Can he wait or will he get shipped off to somewhere far and wide to lessen the embarrassment he caused?”

“If I'm being completely honest, I can't say I care all too much about what happens to Munslow.” Hermione stated slowly as they made their way back to the tower.

Grace snort-laughed and had a hard time walking properly. “Who does, really? Let’s forget about all of it then and just focus on our next task: being the gossip.”

“Oh no.” Hermione whined. “That’s just as bad. And I came up with it!”

\---******---

“Where is Professor Dumbledore?” Grace asked Mrs. Weasley, wandering into the kitchen and looking around as if the man were hidden in the corners.

It was a few days into their Yule holidays and so far it had been as peaceful as it could be when you were sitting on pins and needles waiting for two confrontations. Mr Weasley had been coming and going to work at odd hours and she only saw glimpses of Dumbledore. It had gotten to the point that she started searching them out just so she could get it over with.

“Order business I'm afraid dear.” Mrs. Weasley said firmly.

“Eh, does that I don't get to know why he's not here?”

“It means that he had plans that preceded ours and we'll likely not see him for the rest of the holidays while he does what he does.”

Grace grimaced. “Ah.”

“On the other hand, I'm sure you'd like to hear how Severus was called away and most likely won't be joining us either.”

“Oh?” Grace asked, head snapping up and looking hopeful. “Not even for Yule?”

Mrs. Weasley snorted indelicately. “I sincerely doubt that man would step foot in this house for any type of celebration while we still live here. That doesn't mean you get to disrespect him, the things he's doing for the Order are dangerous.”

“Of course they are.” Grace agreed quickly.

“Don't take that tone, young lady. He puts his life on the line for us. Although he could be a bit more friendly, all things considered. Won't even have a bite of dinner! Morganna knows he needs a bit of feeding after the nasty things he's got to listen to after he's been called.”

“Called away?”

“Summoned. Magic knows what that man has to endure. Especially knowing He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

“Right. Well. I'll go and have a stern talk with myself about my priorities then.” Grace said with a nod that had Mrs. Weasley narrowing her eyes at her. Grace gave her her best innocent look (which honestly wasn't very innocent) before quickly walking out of the room. It was just her bad luck that she bumped into Mr. Weasley as she exited the room.

“Mr. Weasley.” Grace said, startled by his appearance before frowning heavily at him.

Mr Weasley looked at her before sighing. “Grace.”

“You told Dumbledore.” She stated with a glare.

“Grace, I know you're upset about this-“

“You don't know anything.” She hissed out, hands clenched into tight fists.

“I know more than you think, young lady. I've been alive a lot longer than you have and I have more experience in sifting out what is important and what isn't. I'm sorry to say that your personal feelings on your parentage aren't important here.”

“Funny how easily you made that decision, especially when it had nothing to do with you.”

“It wasn't an easy decision at all.” Mr. Weasley countered. “I did what was best for you and despite your anger now, I know you'll come to see that.”

“Best for me?” Grace laughed out harshly. “I trusted you! I trusted you with one of the biggest secrets in my life and you just threw it away! Told Dumbledore the first chance you got! You were supposed to support me, you were supposed to listen to me when I said I wasn't ready for him to know.”

“And I understand that, I do, but considering the circumstances it just wasn't feasible.”

“What wasn't feasible was me trusting you. I know better now.”

“Grace. Enough. I know you're hurt and upset but I won't allow you to take that tone with me.”

“Tone? Allow? And what, exactly, are you going to do about it?” Grace asked, crossing her arms and raising her eyebrows. “We aren't in your house and I'm not your daughter. You don't have any kind of authority over me except the kind I'm willing to give you, so what exactly do you think you're going to do?”

“I can do a great deal.”

Grace nodded. “Of course you can. Probably something along the lines of telling Dumbledore right?”

“That's enough now!” Mr Weasley thundered.

“What was enough was telling Dumbledore. You had no right and you still did it anyway, despite my very vocal wishes.”

“I'm trying to look out for your best interests Grace. Despite what you may think, you are still a teenager in the middle of a very unsure time. Your life in danger and if I can do anything to keep you safe, I will.”

“Except that it's got absolutely nothing to do with you or with my safety.”

“It has everything to do with your safety!”

“It has to do with Snape's safety, not mine.” Grace as she shook her head in disgust. “You were more worried about him than about me. The fact that you're standing here now trying to convince me that you did the right thing is laughable.”

“Enough! I will not allow you to continue to talk to me like this.” Mr. Weasley rumbled angrily.

“And I won't continue to let you act like this towards _me_.” Grace hissed out angrily. “You had no right and yet you did it anyway. You didn't care about me at all and now you're angry that I'm pointing it out?”

“Grace?” Hermione called out from somewhere in the house. “Are you ready yet?”

“We are in the middle of a discussion.”

“No, we're at the end of one. You're not my father and you're not my guardian, stop pretending you are before I start involving my attorneys.” Grace stated coldly before walking away, finding Hermione waiting for her by the front door, well away from aunt Walburga's screaming portrait.

“Ready?” Hermione asked with a smile, almost vibrating in her place.

“Excited?” Grace asked, a small smile coming out as her anger drained away.

“Of course I am!” Hermione said as she handed Grace her coat, gloves, and scarf before pushing her out the door. “Can you just imagine what we might find? The history of the family I belong to? Do you think they even knew about me? I mean, obviously not considering I wasn't even born when the last McKinnon died, but maybe my mum? Did they even bother to keep track? Actually, do you suppose that's a Pureblood thing? To either keep track or not keeping track of your line? Then again, if they don't know that a squib line can be 'reactivated' then what's the point, right?”

“Hermione.” Grace said with a small snort as she finished putting on her coat. “Breathe.”

“But it's just so fascinating!”

I'm sure it is, and you'll no doubt get your answers in just a little while. How are we getting there, by the way? We didn't bring any one to apparate us?

“Oh, I ordered us a taxi.”

“Did you?”

“Why are you so surprised about that?”

“Dunno. Just figured we'd be using magical means.”

“Means that could have an undercover Death Eater that reports back to the big who-ha where exactly you are today?”

“Huh. Good point. Alright, we'll do it your way.”

“Oh thank you.” Hermione snarked sarcastically as the car drove up and the two girls got in.

“Charing Cross road please.”

“No problem love.”

“So the only thing you're interested in finding today is family history is it?” Grace said quietly enough that she was sure the driver wouldn't be able to hear them.

Hermione made a so-so gesture. “I'm wondering if they have any, em, family jewellery.”

Grace's eyebrows jumped up in surprise. “What? Really? I didn't think you were that sort of girl.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. "'That sort of girl.' What sort? The sort that likes shiny things or the sort that wants the jewellery that belongs to her family and that can mark her as part of that family for all to see?”

“Ah, the Lord and Heir heirlooms.”

Hermione nodded. “And because I hope they're pretty and Lavender chokes on it!”

“Seriously? I thought you were over that.”

“I'll never be over that. Just because she's better at hiding it, doesn't mean she's not a bullying git.”

Grace winced. “That's fair. Does that mean you're bullying her right back?”

Hermione cocked her head in contemplation. “Can you bully someone who's bullying you? Doesn't that just make it some sort of feud?”

“It's a lot of things, honestly, but I'm not sure 'feud' is the right word unless you want to get into dangerous House territory.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well, you can start a blood feud can't you?”

“Can you? But...how would you even start something like that?”

“Sort of like the Weasley's and the Malfoy's isn't it? They can't stand each other.”

But that doesn't automatically mean they're in a blood feud. Hermione objected heavily.

“Ok, no, maybe not, but each generation hate each other. I mean you have the twins who are basically nice to everyone and they hate Malfoy. And let's not forget that Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy got in a fist fight.”

“I did forget about that.” Hermione said with a slight tone of wonder before catching Grace's eye and dissolving into giggles. “Served him right though.”

Grace nodded. “It did. Though it might not mean they're in a blood feud, the evidence suggests they are.”

“So how do you go about declaring a blood feud with someone?”

“Oh, well, it's not just someone, it's their whole line. They have to have done something really awful to you and your line before you can declare something like that.”

“Who would know?”

“Magic.” Grace said simply before the driver announced they were here. Grace watched as Hermione pulled out her wallet and paid the driver.

“So magic, what, judges your claim?” Hermione asked once they were both out of the car and making their way towards the Leaky Cauldron.

“Yes. As far as I can tell with everything I learned, magic decides if you're just messing about or if your claim warrants the impending, I dunno, decades of hatred to come.”

“So if I were to state a claim that from this day on Lavender Brown and her entire line are in a blood feud with me over her actions towards me at Hogwarts.” Hermione said leadingly as they walked into the Leaky Cauldron and made their way towards the entrance to Diagon Alley.

“Please don't.”

Hermione rolled her eyes. “Did I say I would? This is a hypothetical, work with me.”

“So you just declared a blood feud?” Grace summarized as Hermione nodded and opened the archway, standing back to let the magic work before both she and Grace continued towards Gringotts. “First of all, magic would judge Lavender's actions towards you and the severity of what you're asking. So if she just, erm, pushed you once, then nothing happens because it's not that bad, all things considered.”

“Well of course not, not for something that small.”

“Right. But if it was full out bullying and you were actually getting physically and mentally hurt to a degree that it affected everything-“

“Which is usually what bullying entails.” Hermione cut in.

“-then magic decides if what you're asking is worth the blood feud.”

“And if it's not even though the bullying is bad?”

“Er, that's where wizards get a little...iffy about the whole thing.”

“Iffy?”

“They're not sure, is the bottom line really. Because in some cases magic does retaliate for what the person has done to you even though it won't let you go full blood feud, but other times it kind of gives the other person a slap on the wrist.”

“So it not only judges your motivation but also the motivation of the other person?”

“That's...not something I read about.”

“Think of it like this. Say Lavender was only pushing my buttons because she's secretly well into me but she's afraid of letting me know.”

“Oh Morganna.” Grace said as she wrinkled her nose and mimed throwing up.

“If it affected me badly because I was thinking she was bullying me but she was only trying to get my attention, maybe magic would only give her a tap instead of a...a...”

“Magical punch to the gut?”

“Yes. That.” Hermione nodded as they walked up the steps of Gringotts.

“I mean, it sounds logical.” Grace allowed with a slow nod. “But we both know what logical means in the Wizarding world.”

“Nothing.” They both stated simultaneously before giggling quietly as they walked through the doors of the bank.

“So.” Grace stated as they stepped into Gringotts and looked for the shortest line to a teller. “Your vault or mine?”

Hermione wrinkled her nose. “Worst pick-up line ever.”

“You'd be lucky to date me.”

“Lucky to be alive, you mean.”

“You're hilarious, answer the question.”

“Ehhh, yours?”

“You don't sound very sure and you were the one that wanted to do this.” Grace reminded her.

“I know. I just...I think I need a bit more time before we tackle mine.”

“Ok. Sounds a little weird, but ok.”

“It's not weird! It's practical. Once I see how you tackle yours I'll have a better idea of how to tackle mine.”

“That makes absolutely no sense.” Grace objected. “They're two completely different vaults, and that doesn't even include the different families and their leanings.”

Hermione sighed loudly in aggravation. “I don't care if it doesn't make sense, I chose to go to your vault first so that's what we're going to do!”

“Ok, fine, have your weird priorities”. Grace placated as they stepped into a line for a teller. Hermione grunted but didn't otherwise respond as she looked around the hall. Grace just shook her head in amusement before a figure walking into the bank caught her attention and made her smile.

“Oh no.” Hermione moaned as she caught sight of James walking into the bank as they waited for their turn with the teller. “Did you have to invite him?”

“Be nice!” Grace whispered as she nudged her in reprimand. “Besides, between the three of us, he's got more experience with curses and the like than we do.”

“So you brought him because he's handy?”

“I brought him because it's just good sense.” Hermione raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “Oh alright, I also invited him so you can yell at him and I can spend some time with him away from people who don't know about, you know, _us_.”

“You brought him to kiss him.” Hermione stated with some disapproval.

“Oh please! As if you wouldn't have done the same if Viktor was here.”

“We'll never know now will we?” Hermione said primly as she straightened her blouse and looked dead ahead.

"Ladies." James said with a nod and a half bow before taking Grace's hand and giving it a hovering kiss. He tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and turned towards the teller they were waiting for. "So, do we have a plan for today?"

“I don't know about Hermione, but I just want to get a good look at everything in my vaults.”

“Vaults?” Hermione asked, eyes narrowed though Grace doubted it was because she was angry.

“Yeah, I've got the Black and the Gryffindor ones, remember? If we're going to be looking at vaults today anyway, why not do them both?”

“Aren't there more than one? I know the McKinnon’s have two.”

“Sure, one for money and one for heirlooms and such.” Grace nodded in agreement. “I don't care about the money, I want to see what's in the other vaults.”

“Anything specific you're looking for?”

Grace gave her a half shrug. “Not really? I mean, if I see something that makes me think of something that either vault could hold, then yes, but I'm not going in looking for something.”

“Huh.” Hermione stated thoughtfully as they moved closer to the goblin as another client left. “Better to get an overview so that next time you know what you're stepping into.”

“I suppose. The estate files should have everything listed that's in the vaults though.” Grace pointed out, grinning slightly at Hermione's wince at the mention of House files. Seems she was starting to understand Grace's hatred for the things. Before Hermione could answer, the person in front of them concluded their business and the goblin gestured them over.

"Hello." Grace stated, handing over her keys before motioning Hermione to hand over hers. "We'd like to visit our vaults today."

The goblin looked at both of them with suspicion and inspected every miniscule inch of their keys before he grunted out his approval, however disappointed he sounded about that. "Three vaults. Kingslasher will take you."

"Lovely." Hermione answered faintly, looking at Kingslasher in a slightly alarmed manner.

“Follow me.” Kingslasher grumbled as he walked by them, all three of them scrambling behind him to catch up. They might have short legs, but they were fast when they wanted to be. “Which vault first?” He demanded as they followed him.

“Mine.” Grace stated firmly and handing him the key. Kingslasher merely nodded and Grace took it as a win.

They followed him through the archway towards the carts. The smooth marble and light of the main hall gave way to stone floors and walls and dimly lit torches. A cart whistled by them before stopping only a few meters away, probably called by Kingslasher at some point even though Grace hadn't seen him do it at any point. Kingslasher got into the cart and James, Hermione, and Grace jumped into the seat behind him, all of them holding on for dear life as Kingslasher cranked the cart and let it loose on the tracks.

“What vault number did you say yours was?” James yelled out as the wind whipped around them.

“I didn't!” Grace yelled back with a grin as she tried to contain a whoop of joy. This was probably what Dudley had felt when he was on the rollercoaster’s.

“So tell me now!”

“Vault 12.” Grace called out as they came to an abrupt stop. James glared at Kingslasher before they all trooped out of the cart and faced the Gryffindor vault.

“No wonder it's so bloody cold down here.” James complained as he pulled out his wand and cast a warming charm first on himself and then on Grace. Grace gave him a pointed look before he grudgingly placed one on Hermione as well.

“Isn't there any sort of security?” James asked Kingslasher in an affronted tone to which Kingslasher gave him a dark look.

“No.” Kingslasher said shortly, not even bothering to wait for James' reply as he slotted Grace's key into the lock.

“Why not?” James persisted.

“The line has been presumed dead for centuries and has locked itself until an heir appeared. Whatever creature might have guarded it has long since died. We are not in the habit of supplying extra security for free.”

“Of course you're not. And if we requested extra security measure now?”

“We do not supply them.”

“Of course you don't.” James uttered snidely as Kingslasher seemingly had enough of the conversation and opened the vault door.

The door opened and with it came a gust of dust that had them all stepping back and coughing, trying to dispense the air with their hands before remembering they had magic and used their wands to clear the air. Curiosity being too much to handle had Grace peaking in the vault before the other two had even put their wands away, which, in hindsight, she probably shouldn't have done in the first place, what with her walking into an unknown vault and all. Getting the first look at her very new vault she could only look around in mild disgust.

“What is this?” She asked nobody in particular as she gestured to the entire vault.

“What's what?” Hermione asked as she came up behind Grace and peeked over her shoulder. “Oh my. That's...aha.”

“What's going on?” James asked from behind both of them. Grace snorted and walked further into the room and allowing James to see the contents of her vault. “Huh.” He stated mildly, clearly trying to suppress a grin.

“Don't you even dare.” Grace warned him.

“I haven't even said a word.”

“You just said several.”

“If you kiss me, I'll stop using all of them.” James retorted with a playful leer that she rolled her eyes at.

“So what do we do?” Hermione asked with a certain amount of trepidation that Grace could only agree with.

“Dunno.” Grace said as she shrugged her shoulders. “Start somewhere?”

"I'd say we're lucky your vault isn't all that big, but considering how much they managed to cram in here..." Hermione trailed off.

James sighed deeply and pointed out three different routes one could take through the various items in the vault. “Grace, you go left, I'll go through the middle, and Lord McKinnon will take the left. Would you like something specific, Grace?”

Grace shook her head. “Not really. I think I just want to have a general idea of what's in here so that I can start thinking about clearing up things I won't ever use.”

“On the other hand,” Hermione said as she started to make her way down her appointed route, “you could always leave that for the next generation.”

Grace huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what happened to most of this stuff. Besides, no one has been in here for centuries and I'm far too curious to not look at everything.”

James laughed, eyes sparkling as he looked at her. “Treasure hunting, darling?”

“Only a little.” Grace replied with a grin.

“Alright, let's see if I can't find some treasure for you.” James remarked with a wink before disappearing through a slim opening.

Which was a problem of course. Grace suspected it mostly had to do with the fact that the Gryffindor vault was both old as sin and that the last few people to use it generally hadn't really cared all that much about the placement of things because the vault was a bloody mess. As in, things were stacked up on top of each other without thought to gravity or the item they were using.

Frankly, it looked like a real life Tetris game and it made Grace hesitant to even touch anything. On top of that, a lot of the things she was seeing were old. As in, older than the stone age old. Alright, maybe not that old, but old enough that a good three fourths of the vault could be thrown out. On the other hand, a lot of these things could be considered antiques and if she sold them to the right people, she might even make some money off this stuff. Something to keep in mind, she decided as she inched her way into the vault, wand out this time, looking for a place to start.

Figuring the best place to start was just to start, she stopped in front of a small table that was piled high (probably to the ceiling, not that she wanted to confirm that) and decided that would do. She walked around the tower and made out a few chairs, random boxes, a few chests, what looked like a bookcase of all things, books in various places that looked more strategic than anything else, and a pillow.

Shrugging, because why not, she decided to try her hand at some of the boxes that looked like she could move them without taking down the entire tower. There was one, wedged between two chairs, that seemed liked the sort she was looking for so she tried to pry it loose first. Naturally, having been in once place for who knows how long, it didn't really relish the idea of moving so it stayed firmly put. Grace, having never been a quitter of any sort, wasn't about to let an ancient box pull an attitude with her so she planted her feet, grabbed the box firmly between her two hands, and pulled with all her might. Being the stronger willed of the two, Grace naturally won, which she discovered when the box came loose and she fell backwards, almost tripping over herself to stay upright. Thankfully, she managed to do just that, but only because she bumped into a wardrobe which allowed her to balance herself again. Calming her racing heart, she looked at the box in her hands. Crowing in delight she held up the box in the air as if she was being declared the winner before she realized James and Hermione could see her doing that if they were to come looking for her. She quickly dropped her hand and cleared her throat as she conjured up a ball of light to see the box better.

It was a plain wooden box, old and scratched and definitely unworried by today's standards, but it still boasted a hinge mechanism. That told her that it was probably one of the last things put into the vault because she was sure hinges weren't around when Gryffindor was, although, to be fair, it wasn't like she knew the history of the hinge so what did she know. She pointed her wand at the box and said a string of Latin that James had taught her to identify curses or hexes that might have some rather nasty intentions. Thankfully, the box came back clear so she shrugged and opened it. Wondering if you could actually feel disappointed even when you didn't really have any expectations, Grace slumped with a frown as she took in some very early writing implements.

Although, in all fairness, how 'early' could it have really been if they were still using a quill to write things down? Grace closed the box with a huff and stuffed it back where she pulled it from lest the whole tower came toppling down around her, or worse, on her. Turning in a small circle to look at the things around her, she turned back to the wardrobe she bumped into and shrugged.

It couldn't be worse than the box. It didn't look like it had any sort of lock on it, so Grace pulled on the door and was relieved that it opened on the first try. She was surprised to find a few pieces still hanging while others had fallen to the floor. Reaching out, she turned one of the dresses towards her and jumped in shock when it practically fell to pieces. Considering how old the dress had been, it wasn't a wonder it was falling apart and Grace figured that any sort of preservation spells that they once had placed on them had long since faded.

On the one hand she was a little upset by that, but on the other hand, it wasn't really like she was ever going to wear them was she? Not wanting anything else to fall apart in her hands, or have more cleaning up to do later, she closed the door and turned her attention around the room once more.

In a corner what looked like a very early toilet. The wooden chair had a circle in the middle, presumably where you could, eh, do ones business. A box was placed beneath the chair, but it looked to only be placed there as a way to get the pot that stood on top of it closer to the opening of the chair. Which, really, made sense considering how modern bathrooms worked.

Deciding she didn't want to look too closely at that bit of 'history' she turned to another object. It was a large metal object with three large circles at one end and a handle on the other. Near the top was a circular device. Grace frowned as she looked at it and then huffed in laughter. It was a whisk! One of the earlier inventions, no doubt, and while historically important, completely irrelevant to her now.

Shaking her head in amusement she put it down and picked up the object laying next to it. A large circular wooden stump that held a large bundle of cloth. Turning it around in her hands she looked at it in pure confusion. Hearing some movement, Grace turned her head to the side and saw Hermione making her way towards her.

“What are you holding?” Hermione asked when she got nearer.

“Not a clue.” Grace replied, still turning the object in her hands and wondering if turning every which way would really help her figure out what she was holding.

“Let's see then. You wouldn't believe the things in your vault! It's a real treasure trove here!”

“Yeah, if you're into antiquing.” Grace huffed as she gestured around her. “There's not a lot here we could actually use today.” Grace pointed out as she handed over her item.

“Oh!” Hermione said in delight. “It's a pin cushion!”

“Why do you even know that?”

“I did a report once, for school, and I looked up some things and this was one of them.”

“What kind of school did you go to?” Grace asked as she thought back to some of the homework she had to do.

Hermione blushed and shrugged. “A normal one. I was just making sure I had all my facts.”

“Glad to know it's a Hermione thing then.”

“As apposed to what?”

“A magical Hermione thing.”

“Meaning?”

“Well, you could have gone full research and planning when you got to the Wizarding world because it was new and exciting. Which would be ok, obviously, but it's nice to know it's just a part of who you are instead of something you had to turn into.”

“I suppose that's a nice thought then.” Hermione said dubiously as Grace just smirked at her.

“Listen, are you through here? I think I've had more than enough adventuring here for one day.”

“You didn't find anything exciting?”

Grace rolled her eyes. “If by exciting you mean historically useless things, then yes. I've half a mind to never step foot in here again and just let any future children I have sort the whole lot out for me.”

“Didn't you say you didn't want to do that?”

“Past me didn't know what the hell she was talking about.”

“Looks like present you didn't have a great time.” Hermione said on a laugh.

“Present me knows how much work it would be to sort everything out and has decided it's not worth the effort.”

“Not sure I completely agree with you darling.” James stated as they rounded the corner.

“And why's that? Found something interesting?” Grace asked as Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered something about waiting outside.

Instead of answering, James pulled out a small bag and held it open for her. Curious but not stupid, Grace only leaned over to peak inside the bag. Seeing a load of colourful stones she frowned and plucked one out.

“You got me a bag of stones?”

“Not just any stones.” James replied leadingly.

“Colourful ones.”

“Darling.” James said slowly. “These are rubies.”

“I thought rubies where red?” Grace asked as she looked at the green stone in the palm of her hand.

“They are. That's an emerald.”

“And the blue one?”

“A sapphire.”

“Aha.”

“Darling.”

“Yes dear?”

“Do you not care or do you not understand what this means?”

“I suppose it means that I have a load of uncut gems in the vault and I shouldn't just leave them about?”

“That's the short of it, yes.”

“Then that's all I'm willing to care about.”

“You don't really care do you?”

“I mean...they're pretty? Sort of? They're kind of dirty.” Grace replied in a helpful sort of tone as she took a closer look at the emerald.

James sighed long and loudly as he took back the emerald in her hand and dropped it back into the bag. “I'd like you to know this is deeply frustrating and I'm two seconds away from crying.”

“You want to do something with them don't you?”

“I would like to clean them up a little, yes. Perhaps use them in some jewellery pieces for you. A ring, a bracelet, perhaps a necklace.”

“And if I said that I don't really care for that sort of thing?”

“We'll work on it.” James stated firmly as he leaned over and kissed her, lingering just a little before pulling back and grinning at her in amusement.

“So what do you really want them for?” Grace asked as she linked her arm with his and guided him out of the vault.

“Goblins love gems more than they love gold.”

“Eh, no. They probably love them because it gets them gold.”

“Perhaps.” James relented with a nod. “But it's a good bargaining tool to have, whatever the case may be.”

“You want me to hold on to them so I can bride the goblins with it later?”

“Isn't that the point of having a bargaining tool?”

Grace only rolled her eyes and pushed him out of the vault before closing it behind her. Both Hermione and Kingslasher were waiting by the cart for them, with Hermione looking very uncomfortable.

Grace nodded at the goblin who sneered at her in reply as they all piled back into the cart and it zoomed off to the Black vault. Once they were back on (mostly) solid ground, with James looking a bit too green, Kingslasher demanded her key and this time they all stepped back. Getting hit in the face with dust, and whatever else it might have been, was an experience one only wanted once in their lifetime.

To be fair to the Blacks (and nobody really wanted to do that to begin with) they were meticulous in organizing their things. The books, jewellery, household items, gold, all of it was separate and catalogued nicely and in a certain order that had Grace relaxing her tense muscles when she walked into the vault. Even Hermione sighed in appreciation at the sight of the mostly organized vault while James just looked about in interest.

“We should probably have some sort of signal to indicate that we're in a spot of trouble.” Grace said slowly as they all stood in the entrance of the vault.

“We should?” Hermione asked, peering in the room with sudden trepidation.

“Most certainly.” James agreed with a nod. “I remember the Blacks, Sirius' parents and their various other aunts and uncles. Unlikeable lot, even if they were powerful.”

“So what should we do?”

“Scream?”

Grace nodded. “Yeah, that seems logical. The one thing we probably won't forget to do. Unless we can't, that is.”

“You're fun when you're being practical, you know that?” Hermione frowned at her before continuing without waiting for Grace's reply. “Screaming it is then. Are we splitting up again? Was there something you were looking for in this vault? Something of Sirius' maybe?”

Grace looked around as she put her hands in her pockets. “Dunno. I didn't exactly get the idea that Sirius spent a whole lot of time in this vault. I don't think family history meant all that much to him, so finding something of his here would mean more to his parents than to him.”

“Like his room.” Hermione said with dawning comprehension.

“Well.” James stated with false joviality. “This was fun. There is something here I'm fairly hopeful to find, so I'm going to try my luck.”

“Which is...” Grace stretches out.

“A notebook full of ideas and pranks. “Marauders, of course.” James added with a wink before sauntering off into the depths of the vault.

“Of course.” Grace and Hermione uttered together.

“I'm just going to wander.” Hermione said as she looked about.

“I'll do the same. Don't touch anything though, just in case. Or, I mean, you can, just check for curses and whatnot.”

“I'll be careful.” Hermione promised soothingly as she wandered off, leaving Grace to wonder what she actually thought she'd get out of looking through all these things.

It was nice to get an idea of what was in her possession, but realistically, what was she really going to do with any of it? Growing up as she had, as she still was, the few possessions she had meant the world to her. The rest of it she wasn't fussed about, and both of these vaults were in the latter category. They held no emotional value to her and she wouldn't mind burning the lot of it just to be rid of the whole lot. The goblins would probably object to that though, Grace reasoned morosely, so she was stuck sorting through everything.

As she walked about a stack of portraits caught her eye. Wondering if she'd see Dorea in any of them (the only Black ancestor she knew of since she had thought they were related at some point), she hummed to herself as she looked through them.

“You there!” A voice stated with a degree of importance that only a Black could have.

Grace scanned several of the portraits until she came across the only one who was animated. He was an older man, portly, and held himself as if he was the most important man in the room.

“Yes?”

“Whatever are you doing? You are damaging the frames! No respect at all!”

“Damag-I only touched them!” Grace protested.

“Touching is more than enough! Did you even check for preservation spells? Hm?”

“Why would I?” Grace asked, annoyed now. “It's not like I'll be hanging you lot anywhere.”

The man gasped in outrage. “_Pardon me_! How very insulting! Clearly the standards for the Black household have fallen far beneath acceptable.”

“Thank you.” Grace replied sarcastically.

“You should very well do! And your choice of clothing! Take more pride in your appearance childe! You look like a squib.”

“_A squib?!_”

“Far better than a mudblood of course, but not too far. If these are the standards my House is perpetuating these days I can only be glad I'm dead. Never thought I'd see the day.”

“Alright, that's it.” Grace said as she thrust the frames back together and walked away. The man wasn't even real and he had gotten under her skin. He was definitely going on her list of things to set on fire when she got the chance.

Deciding it was probably safer to look at things with someone by her side, Grace found herself wandering around aimlessly until she found Hermione and happily helped her look through a few trunks filled to the brim with obscure books. Chuckling under her breath at _1000 and 1 Ways To Hide Yourself From Those Pesky Muggles_, she flipped through a few pages and couldn't help but enjoy the rather ridiculous methods wizards had found to try and fit in. Flipping through a few more pages just to browse through it, a letter popped out and drifted onto the floor before she could catch it.

“What's this?” Grace asked as she picked up a letter and studied it with interest, especially since it, remarkably, had her name on it.

Hermione looked at it over Grace's shoulder, her eyes darting around as if she was sure she would be attacked at any moment. Wasn't too hard to imagine, the Black's where a crazy bunch.

“Looks like a letter.” Hermione stated factually.

“Really, it's a wonder how I survive without you.” Grace uttered sarcastically. “I might just have died without knowing the terrible curse of the letter!” She said dramatically, holding it out in front of her as if it was the final clue in one of those far too dramatic murder mysteries Petunia liked to scoff over but secretly enjoyed.

Hermione sighed deeply. “Well how the bloody hell should I know what it is? Did you ever think of opening the thing before asking stupid questions?” She snarked back.

Grace grunted and rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine, use logic like it would help me.” Grace gracefully ignored whatever Hermione mumbled under he breath as she ripped open the letter with her name on it. She waved the thing open and leaned on the side of large wingback chair and let her eyes glance over the letter. She stopped. Looked down at the signature on the bottom of the letter and stood up straighter, electricity thrumming through her veins as she started reading the letter again.

_My dear daughter,_

_I have so much to say to you and have so little time. I'll try to explain as much as I can in this letter, but it won't ever be enough. I wish I could enchant something where you could see and hear me, but I know James or Sirius will trace my magical signature at some point and I need to be sure you receive this._

_Don't trust James._

_I know what the world thinks, that I loved James so much we had a child together but it's not true! You are my daughter, but you're not his. Severus Snape is your father and Grace, he's a good man. Trust that. Trust that he will love you and cherish you. Find him once you read this and tell him the truth, show him this letter if you must. James doesn't want Severus to be your father. I don't know what that man is thinking but I know what he's capable of and he's dangerous. He's already obliviated me once, Grace. I found out a few weeks ago that you weren't his and I intended to tell Severus that very same day. I don't know how he found out, I don't know! But he did, he did and he took the information from me! Why he wants you, I don't know and it scares me the way he acts around you. Possessive. Primal. He intends something with you and I wish to God I knew what so I could protect you from him. _

_Most of all, stay away from Sirius. I managed to break the obliviate two days ago and told Severus. We planned, Grace, we planned and planned and planned. We were going to run away with you, take you out of this war and be the family we were meant to be, but I just saw Severus and he didn't even know anything! I tried to tell him again and Sirius was there! He pointed his wand at Severus and stunned him. I was so scared Grace, I don't know what to do anymore. Sirius is crazy. He warned me never to try and tell him again, warned me to never try to take you away from him again or he'd kill Severus and me both. Told me he'd make sure you never knew me._

_I don't know what to do, what to say, who to trust! James wants you safe, wants you loved. Sirius wants to possess you, own you, keep you. I don't think I'll survive this war, I don't think Severus will ever remember so I have to make sure something stays behind of me so that you know the truth. If Sirius is still alive, stay away from him. If James is still alive...Merlin I can't believe I'm even writing this down, but trust that he will never hurt you. Sirius is dangerous Grace. So is James. If you can, stay far away from both of them! They're twisted and dark and they have despicable plans for you._

_I never even wanted to call you Grace. I wanted to call you Rose, to keep the tradition my mother stared going. James named you before I even had the chance to breathe after you were born. _

_I'll miss so much of your life, my darling little girl, and I can only hope that you are safe and loved, that you grew up knowing how much your father and I love you so._

_I don't have much more time. I don't know how else to warn you, or what to warn you from. It's all too much! There's too much information and not enough time! _

_I love you. I'll find a way to keep you safe, keep you safe from all of them._

_I love you._

_Your mother,_

_Lily._

_P.S. Don't forget to find your father if he still lives._

Grace snorted. “Oh, he still lives alright.” She muttered softly, running her eyes over the letter again and sighing in disgust. Letters just never seemed to bring good news to her, did they?

“Well?” Hermione asked. “What did it say?”

“What didn't it?” Grace huffed out. “It's from mum.” Hermione's eyes grew large and her mouth dropped open in surprise. Grace smiled at her shock. “I know. At least this time I know she won't be showing up like James did.”

“How do you know that?” Hermione asked, as she pointed to the letter silently asking if she could read it.

Grace rolled her eyes as she handed the letter over. “Because she'd be here already, don't you think? Also, I strongly suspect James used 'dark' magic to get here and from everything I know about mum, she wouldn't even think to go near that stuff.”

Hermione finished reading the letter and looked over at Grace, the shock changing swiftly to worry. “Merlin Grace, this says that James obliviated your mum!”

“Yeah, but we already knew that, remember?”

“We did?” Hermione asked, not in the least comforted by the thought.

“Yeah, in James' letter. He told me about it last summer. Didn't I tell you that part?” Grace asked as she thought back to their earlier conversation.

“No.” Hermione said, her voice just this side of testy. “No I don't think you did remember to tell me that part. Well.” She said after a short pause. “At least we know he'd never lie to you about something like this.”

Grace nodded. “It's nice to know after everyone has kept things from me.”

“She...I don't know how to say this without...well, she sounds a little crazy.” Hermione hedged, eyeing Grace with trepidation. “She jumps from her 'don't trust James', to 'trust James but don't trust Sirius', to 'don't trust either of them'.”

Grace snorted. “Yeah, I caught that too. What exactly does it say about my life that all the non-crazy people are our age?”

Hermione huffed out a laugh. “I wouldn't go that far, Malfoy's trying his best to be friends with you now.”

Grace grimaced. “Don't remind me, it's weird enough as is.”

“You don't think he fancies you, do you?” Hermione asked, her lips twitching.

Grace narrowed her eyes. “Don't even think it.” She warned her best friend.

Hermione held up her hands in surrender as she tried not to laugh, resulting in a particularly odd sounding snort. “My brain is stopping as we speak.” She said when she calmed herself down.

Grace eyed her with a big grin. “I'll believe it when I see it.”

“Are you ladies done here?” James asked, walking into the room and frowning at his bicep as he tried to get rid of some very persistent dust.

“Not even close. Mum left me a crazy letter.” Grace told him offhandedly as she went back to looking through the trunk of books she had found before she was distracted.

“Grace!” Hermione screeched indignantly.

“What?!” Grace asked, jumping up and looking at her friend in alarm. “What happened? Are you ok? Did anything attack you?” She asked running over to Hermione and checking her out, turning her this way and that to better see any injuries.

Hermione batted her hands away in mild frustration. “I'm fine! Stop that, you hooligan! I said I was fine!”

“You're not fine! You sounded the alarm.” Grace informed her, hands on her hips with a disapproving look on her face for using their alarm system when she wasn't in trouble.

“Merlin! I wasn't sounding the alarm, I was trying to convey to you that you shouldn't have told him that!” Hermione said rolling her eyes.

“Told who what?” Grace asked, now thoroughly confused.

“James!” Hermione cried out.

“Yes?” James asked, looking a little unnerved when they both turned to look at him in surprise. “What is it I'm not supposed to have heard?” He asked after a beat of silence. Grace shrugged in confusion and Hermione huffed an angry breath.

“The letter she got from her mum.”

“And I wasn't supposed to know this, because...?” James hedged, a look of intrigue as his eyes bounced from Hermione to Grace.

“Mum's insane.” Grace stated blandly as she went back to her trunk. “She's totally convinced you have evil plans for me and that Sirius covets me like the 'one ring that rules them all'.”

“You read.” Hermione stated proudly, completely forgetting the entire conversation in light of the new information.

“No, I listen to you when you talk about what you've read.” Grace corrected. Hermione pouted.

“She reads.” James said and smirked when Grace turned to him with a betrayed look on her face.

“Traitor.” She mumbled, pouting as she turned back to a particularly interesting book full of obscure household incantations. That had to be useful for something right?

“I did live with Lily for a while.” James remarked, reminding all of them of their conversation.

“Yes, but you also obliviated her and she called you crazy.” Hermione pointed out. She frowned. “On the other hand, she was the one coming off as crazy.”

Grace laughed. “I never know if you're helping or not.” She told Hermione. “Besides, if I kept this from James it would mean I think he's either hiding something from me and therefore as crazy as mum was, or I don't trust him to tell me the truth. Neither one is good for a relationship and he's about two steps away from asking me to marry him.” Grace said with a pointed look to Hermione.

Hermione flushed guiltily even as she rolled her eyes. “Yes, alright, I may be jumping to conclusions.”

“Besides, we already established that he doesn't hide things from me otherwise I'd have never known that he obliviated mum. Plus,” Grace continued just as Hermione opened her mouth, “mum seems to have been firmly on the crazy train and I don't know if we should just blindly trust anything she tells me. Besides, nothing she wrote is something we haven't known for a while now. And do I have to point out the fact that you're the one that keeps telling me I have to be open and honest in my relationships?”

“Oh sure, throw that in my face now.” Hermione muttered sarcastically. “All right, fine. He's not a nefarious bastard with dastardly plans, just a confusingly honest really terrible person.”

“Excuse me?” James asked, looking particularly offended.

“I wish. And don't pretend, we both know that if you could do without me you would. You tried to get rid of me at the Ministry for Merlin's sake!”

“An honest mistake.”

“An honest attempt.” Hermione corrected with a glare.

“Grace and I were just starting to get along again and then you turned up. I had plans for that evening.”

“So your excuse is that you wanted more time with Grace and so tried to get rid of me?” Hermione asked as she put her hands on her hips. “That's pathetic.” She stated.

James ground his teeth together as he stared at her. “I'm not quite sure why I'm getting the auror treatment here, but-“

“You don't know? You never apologized!”

“Apologising would indicate that I didn't intend to do it again.”

“You're planning on doing it again? Grace, I regret to inform you that you've chosen the worst possible person in the world to have a romantic entanglement with.”

"'Romantic entanglement.'" Grace mouthed in bemusement as she watched Hermione and James continue to fight.

Honestly, this had been brewing for such a long time she was just happy to have it out in the open now. She was only keeping half an eye and ear out anyway, just in case they really got into it. The chest of books was far more interesting than she could have imagined. Reaching in again while glancing at the fighting duo, her hand brushed something soft and she yanked her hand back. Leaning over, she peaked in and saw a small black pouch. Humming in interested she picked it up and opened it, a small silver ring gleaming back at her. Taking it out and examining it, she saw the trademark stamp on the inside of the ring and didn't fight her scowl because she fucking hated goblins. No wonder they kept on hounding her to look into her vaults! This was what they were after. She'd have a stern word with Nagnok when she went back up, that was for sure.

“This is ridiculous! I didn't even leave you there!”

“Because _Grace_ didn't leave me there! That had nothing to do with you! You really are just a terrible person aren't you?”

“Now listen here! Yes I might be a little possessive of the time I spend with Grace, but that's mostly due to the past few months where we've been at odds with each other.”

"A little possessive? Please! Everyone knows just how possessive you really are! You antagonize Ron as much as you can, you can't help but look at Professor Dumbledore with narrowed eyes and let's not even get into Professor Snape!"

"What is this? An inquisition? I don't have to answer to you."

"I never said that you did."

"So you're just bringing up my faults for entertainment, are you?"

"Hardly my idea of a good time, thank you very much! I want an honest apology for your terrible behaviour and a promise you won't do it again."

"And why would I give you either of those? You've been less than pleasant."

Hermione snorted as she crossed her arms. "Pleasant has nothing to do with it, you emotionally stunted blast-ended skrewt."

"Excuse me? A what?"

"Apologising for trying to leave an underage girl in the bowls of the Ministry is just good manners, something you clearly don't possess. And let me remind you that I also belong to a House now."

"Is that a threat?"

"I can make it one if it makes you happy." Hermione growled out dangerously. Grace was actually a little impressed by that, she hadn't known Hermione had it in her.

"Grace!" James bellowed out in frustration.

Grace raised her hands in surrender, an amused smile on her face when they both turned to look at her. "Keep me out of it, this is between you two."

"She's threatening me!"

"And you more than deserve it and you know it. You're just put out that she's not willing to let bygones be bygones and let it happen again."

"Meaning what exactly?"

Grace exchanged an amused glance with Hermione. "Let's just say that Hermione's got one hell of a nasty streak when people mess with her."

"So you won't stand with me?"

Grace snorted. "Why would I do that? You were a dick and if that were me, I wouldn't even let you be in the same room as me without hexing you to the high heavens."

James grimaced before pouting. "Fine. I'll apologize."

"I don't want it now." Hermione objected indignantly.

"Make up your mind witch! Either you want an apology or you don't!"

"I want a real apology, not one that you feel you ought to give because Grace agrees with me."

"Guys." Grace interrupted before they could devolve into another argument. "I think I've had enough of this vault for one day, can we go to the next one?"

"Mine?" Hermione asked as James sucked in a deep breath and walked towards Grace. "Sure, let's go to mine. I'm kind of excited to find out what the McKinnon’s decided to keep in their vault now."

Grace smiled at Hermione's happy guesses of what they might have kept in the vault, but became distracted when James pulled her into a tight hug.

“Next time you want to ambush me, at least give me some sort of warning.”

Grace huffed in laughter as she hugged James back and kissed him on the cheek. “What's the point in telling you about an ambush? You two weren't going to talk about it and yes, it was underhanded but both of you are important to me. I need you to get along. Please?”

“I don't like the manipulation despite understanding your position.” James said lowly, as to not let Hermione in on what they were saying. “I'll be nicer.” He stated as he gave her a lingering kiss. “Not a fan of not having you to myself.” He said huskily as they parted.

Grace laughed lightly, eyes shining with happiness as she leaned back to look at him. “You'll always have me. You'll just have to learn how to share me sometimes.” She said with a shrug before disentangling herself and linking arms with Hermione before walking out of the vault, James trailing behind them.

“Last stop. Kingslasher.” Grace said jovially as they all piled back into the cart. She wasn't completely sure how the goblin tracks worked, but she was sure they were magic in some sort of way since both of her vaults were lower than Hermione's yet somehow they still made some very steep falls that had James holding her in a death grip.

“Are you ready?” Grace asked Hermione after they fell out of the cart. Hermione made some sort of sad dying noise before handing her key over to Kingslasher and then wringing her hands together as her nerves got the better of her.

“Yes. But also no. But mostly yes.” Hermione turned her large awe-struck eyes to Grace. “This is my family history. Right there. Everything I've ever wanted to know, at my fingertips.”

“Alright.” Grace said dubiously, mostly because the connection Hermione felt towards her long since dead relatives was something that Grace had never felt for her own history. It could very well have to do with the fact that her parents weren't her parents and her history had all been one big fat lie (twice over, thank you Dursley's), but she silently wondered if she just didn't care all that much unless it gave her some sort of advantage in this world.

The McKinnon vault thankfully didn't do anything other than open as a vault normally should. Despite it being a room carved out in some sort of underground mine, the vault had a warm and welcoming feel to it that had all three of them relaxing without having realized they were tense. The room, like the Black vault, was fairly organized into sections but unlike the Black vault, this one had paid more of an emphasis on family. There was lots of furniture, baby things for future generations, rugs, wardrobes, beds, pillows, everything a young couple might need in their first house.

On top of that, much to Hermione's delight, there was a section dedicated to family heirlooms. They found broaches, necklaces, quite a collections of rings and bracelets, and finally, bonding bracelets.

“Bonding what?” Grace asked in confusion as she peered over Hermione's shoulder to look at the two objects.

“Bonding bracelets!” Hermione gushed happily. “They were used until the late 1800's when the ring became more fashionable.”

“Yeah, that tells me nothing.”

“They're wedding rings before wedding rings were invented! They were cuffs that you placed on the outside of your clothing to show people that you where bonded. It was easy to see and harder to proclaim that someone 'hadn't known' their status.”

“So why would they change it then?”

“Fashion.” Hermione said simply. “Whether we like it or not, fashion dictates a lot of what do. Rings became more statement pieces and things like diamonds and gems became status symbols. They tried to put them onto bonding bracelets as a way to stay up to date, but it was a loosing battle.” Hermione said as she picked up another set of bonding bracelets that were covered in diamonds.

Grace tried to whistle to show she was impressed. “But if they put the diamonds on the bracelets, why didn't that work?”

“Because they sold rings for a higher amount.” James inserted, having come back from his perusal of the vault just in time to hear the tale end of their conversation.

“So since they were expensive more people bought them?”

“Essentially.” Hermione nodded. “And now I have the real thing! As a family heirloom! Can you _imagine_?”

“Eh, yes? It's right there.”

Hermione smacked her arm and rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

“Are you going to use them when you bond then? Keep up the family tradition?”

“Well, I would if I even knew that it was a family tradition. I found a few books earlier that I've put into my purse so I can take a look at it later. Hopefully it'll give me some more insight into what's expected of me as the new McKinnon Lord. I hope I don't disappoint them.”

Grace snorted. “You know they're dead, right? I hardly think they'd care what you do.”

“I'd like to leave a legacy.”

“They're called children.”

Hermione narrowed her eyes at Grace. “You're doing this on purpose.” She accused as Grace just smiled innocently.

“If I could have a word, darling?” James interjected, gently pulling Grace away as Hermione went back to sorting out her jewellery.

“What did you need?” Grace asked in interest, turning away from Hermione and giving James her full attention.

“Just a moment with you.” James said sincerely as he pulled her into a hug.

“Oh.” Grace said in surprise, her voice muffled by his clothing before she melted into the hug. “This is nice.”

“I haven't had nearly enough time with you.”

“We have been fighting.”

“That was before. We're trying now, and doing a bloody good job of it if you ask me.”

“You don't think we're going too fast? Falling back into old patterns?”

“The fact that you even just said that means we aren't. I won't lie and say there won't be bad moments to come, because that's simply not possible, but I can say that I won't ever stop trying.” James said gently as he hugged her closer.

Grace merely hummed in contentment before letting the conversation lapse, enjoying the peace of the moment and not having to worry about anything else.

“Did you find that book you were looking for? Grace asked as soon as the thought popped into her mind.

“Book?”

“You were looking for some joke thing?”

“Oh, the notebook of all our ideas.” James nodded in understanding. “I did actually. Fred, George, and I were talking the other day and something they said reminded me of a prank we thought of years ago. I couldn't remember the details but I did remember that Sirius used to write it all down. I had hoped he'd think to put it in his vault and I was right.”

“Lucky you.” Grace replied, not sure if she was being sarcastic or not. “There's something else I've been meaning to speak to you about.”

“Nothing bad, I hope?” James asked as he pulled away from her to see her face clearly.

“I'm not actually sure.” Grace said slowly as she stepped out of his arms and dug around in her pockets. Finding the card she had kept on her all this time, she handed it over to James. “The Lord Council left that in my pocket after the last Wizengamot.”

“Well.” James said, a little stunned.

“Do you suppose it's an invitation or a threat?” Grace asked, watching him turn the card around and then taking out his wand to check if there was any sort of hidden magic.

“Clearly nothing out of the ordinary concerning the card.” James muttered. “A threat? I'm not sure. It doesn't mean it's not an invitation either, of course, but that doesn't really us very far at all does it?”

“Not really, no. I've done nothing with it so far, but I'm starting to wonder if that wasn't the point of them giving it to me?”

“To do nothing?”

“Well, in a sense, yes. Maybe they're testing how well I can keep things to myself. Either that or it was actually a test and I've gone and failed it without realizing.”

“I would hesitate to say you failed their test, given that this must be one of the worst tests I've ever seen. No, I'm inclined to think this is some sort of introduction. Just to get you used to the idea of the Lord Council, maybe try and research it a little more before coming to you a second time.”

Grace shook her head in confusion. “But _why_? What would be the point of it all?”

“Hazarding a guess? I think they're trying to recruit you and they want to see what kind of weight you might be throwing around once you graduate. It's easier to have you on their side than trying to work against you.”

Grace snorted. “Try telling Voldemort that.”

“Yes, well, even if-“ James started before getting cut off by Hermione.

“There you two are! I was wondering if you got lost!” Hermione called out in relief. “Are you two ready to go? I think I've had enough adventure for one day.”

Grace looked up at James and just smiled as James looked completely aggravated that they were once again interrupted. “It won't be for long.” Grace said softly as she pecked him on the lips.

“I'll hold you to that.” James said on a sigh as he wrapped an arm around her waist and followed Hermione out of the vault.

One quick cart ride back to the bank and a blink later they were standing outside and taking deep breaths of fresh air. Not wanting to go through the crowds to use the Leaky Cauldron's floo, James offered both of his arms and apparated them back to Grimmauld Place. Sighing in relief, Grace took off her coat and made her way to the kitchen for a fresh cup of tea. Or rather a warm cup of tea. The weather had been cold and her hands needed something to warm them up. She opened the door just in time to see Ginny closing the window and opening a letter.

"Why am I getting a summons?" Ginny asked confused as the read through the letter.

"Summons for what?" Grace asked as she went to fill the kettle.

"Oh you're back! Mum was about to have a fit if you missed dinner." Ginny said in lieu of a greeting. "For a witness testimony."

Now this is gossip! Grace laughed. What did you do? Better yet, what did you see?

“How the bloody hell should I know? I didn't even, oh no, wait. It says in regards to Randle and Munslow. Oh bloody hell, is this about what I heard on the train? Why would they even ask me about this?”

“Dunno.” Grace shrugged. “But I have heard it's turned into some big thing, so they might be trying to do some legal damage to Munslow.”

“Who's doing what to Munslow?” Hermione asked as soon as she walked through the door.

“Ginny got a summons.” Grace announced before Ginny could say anything.

“I don't even want to know.” Hermione said as she went to the cabinet and pulled out some biscuits.

“Don't be ridiculous, I've got news.” Ginny said as she put down the letter and focused on the two of them. James, having been behind Hermione when she entered, merely wrapped an arm around Grace and kissed the side of her head.

"I'll be with Fred and George if you need me." He said quietly before he kissed her lips and gave her wink before walking out of the room. Grace shook her head in bemusement

“Oh come on!” Hermione complained loudly as she smacked the box of biscuits on the table. “This is Yule break, can we please not?”

“This is important!” Ginny pressed. “And it concerns you both.”

“All right, all right.” Grace said in a placating manner. “Just tell us.”

“I'm about to make your Yule.” Ginny promised Hermione with a dangerous grin. “Pansy Parkinson is getting married in two weeks.”

“Wait, what?”

“Are you sure?” Hermione asked, leaning towards Ginny and with a focus that would have scared Grace in any other situation.

“Dead sure. After that scene with Malfoy, someone wrote to her father and he's apparently had enough. They were going to wait until she graduated, but now with her attitude they figured enough was enough.”

“Oh wow! Wow!” Hermione breathed out in amazement.

How did you even get that kind of information? Grace asked as Hermione continued to process.

“I struck up a rather interesting friendship with Astoria Greengrass. Turns out we have a lot in common, despite our situations.”

“Hates her sister eh?”

Ginny shrugged. “As much as you can hate your sister. I don't like Ron much but he's still my brother.”

“So then why is she telling you all this?”

Ginny snorted. “Probably because I told her that you would be spending Yule with us and everyone knows how much you hate Pansy.”

“So...what? She's doing me a favour?”

“Not really, more like she's trying to find out if you're the one who leaked the information in the first place.”

“Because she got the grand prize out of all of this?”

“Maybe.” Ginny nodded. “Or maybe because Pansy Parkinson in a right prat to anyone who even looks at Malfoy.”

“I have to admit, I never thought it would go this far.”

“Who could have possibly foreseen this?”

“What's the point in telling us anyway?” Grace asked, turning back to Ginny.

Ginny's smile turned positively evil. “Oh. This is the best part. Lord Black-Gryffindor and Lord McKinnon are invited to the wedding.”

“Holy. Fucking. _Shit_.” Hermione burst out, eyes practically popping out of her head.

“Are you sure?” Grace asked in shock and Ginny dissolved into peels of laughter.

“As sure as Hogwarts stands!” Ginny said she as she hiccupped her way back to regular breathing.

“That's...that's...are you sure?”

“Trust me, you'll get your invitations.” Ginny said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Can we even go?” Hermione asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the Parkinson’s aren't exactly light oriented are they? I'd put a lot of money on the fact that they've gone and aligned themselves with Voldemort. If that is the case, would we even be safe going to an event like that?”

Grace hummed in thought. “First of all, it would a slight of epic proportions if we weren't allowed to take Viktor and James. Secondly, if I remember my protocol correctly, you can never draw your wand during a binding. I mean, obviously you can, but it's just bad manners. If there are Death Eaters there, I'm not too sure they'd even be allowed to harm us.”

“That's a lot of guess work, not something I feel great about risking my life for.”

“So you want to go?”

“Of course I bloody want to go! Pansy Parkinson getting her comeuppance up close and personal? I'm there!”

“All right, so how do we make sure us going won't get us kidnapped and murdered?”

“It's none of my business,” Ginny interjected,” but you could always get a written declaration of safety from the host.”

“A what?”

“It's like you both forgot that I'm technically a pureblood as well. A written declaration of safety means the host makes himself responsible for your safety and if anything goes wrong then he's bound, by magic, to you and yours. And you know Purebloods, they hate that sort of thing so you can be sure he'll do his best to keep you alive and happy.”

“We might not even be invited.” Grace pointed out again.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “Astoria assured me. You'll receive the invites in a day or two. I only wish I could see that tart up there myself.”

Hermione smiled viciously. “I can always take pictures for you.”

“Are you allowed to?” Grace asked sceptically.

Hermione shrugged. “I can get a disposable camera, no flash.”

“But all the magic...” Grace trailed off.

“Worth it.” Hermione declared fiercely. Not a second later, a loud screech was heard and the three girls ran towards the sound. Bursting into the living room, they saw a few members of the Order,

Fred, George, and James all in a loose circle around Ron. Only Ron wasn't...quite Ron at the moment. His head was clearly still him, but his body had transformed into that of an eighty-year-old woman and Ron was not taking it well. Everyone else, on the other hand, was finding it very much amusing.

“What have you done?” Ron screamed in horror. “Turn me back!”

“Don't worry-“ Fred started happily.

“Little brother-“ George tacked on.

“It'll wear off-“ Fred said bracingly.

“Soon enough.” George added helpfully.

"'Soon enough' isn't now!" Ron insisted as he clenched his fists.

“Boys!” Mrs Weasley said in a warning tone. “I'm sure you need to check if your counter charms work. James, since you helped them with this mess, I'm sure you don't mind helping them out of it?”

“Of course not!” James replied jovially. “This way boys!” He called out as he walked out of the room, Fred and George following him immediately while Ron took his time. Apparently his eighty-year-old body just didn't move as quickly as he was used to.

Hermione chocked on her laughter, causing Grace to giggle hysterically. Before they knew it, both of them were in fits of laughter, wiping tears from their eyes

“Did you see his face?” Hermione spluttered out.

“I was-“ Grace started but stopped almost immediately as she spied Snape standing in the doorway. The man was staring at her with the darkest look she had ever seen, hatred so visible she was sure she could have touched it in that moment. All of her previous joy petered out quickly as he sneered at her.

"You are just like your father." He stated, loathing dripping off every word.

She gave him a vicious smile. "Yes. It seems I am. Isn't that just fantastic? I bet he's really proud of me too." She added sarcastically.

"Grace..." Hermione warned her lowly. "This is not a good idea."

"James Potter would be proud of you if you pointed out the colour yellow correctly." Snape sneered at her, watching her like a hawk.

Grace simply couldn't take it anymore. All those months of watching him, waiting for him to finally realize who she was, waiting for him to realize exactly what he was supposed to be for her.

"I don't care what my father thinks of me anymore. He's had years to prove to me exactly how much he cares for me, and everyday that goes by is another day where he has made it perfectly clear what an epic disappointment I am."

"Wham, remember the wham!" Hermione urgently whispered to her as she grabbed her arm in an attempt to ground her in her rage.

Grace shook her off. This had gone on for far too long. She was done letting her need for his parental approval and love keep her from accepting what James was so freely offering.

"Not surprising. Any father would be disappointed by a daughter such as yourself." He uttered with an ugly sneer.

Grace ground her teeth in an effort to stop herself from flinching at his words. It was nothing she didn't already know after all, even if the words had cut her to the bone.

"Grace, don't." Hermione said loudly, pulling on her arm and trying to get her to step away but Grace wrenched it back and sneered right back at him.

"Why don't we ask my father then, shall we? Although, having already uttered what he thinks of me, it can't be that much different can it?"

"Are you addled, Potter? Did the spell cause you delusions or has your brain simply stopped functioning?"

"Not addled in the least. Guess what I did this past summer, Professor? I went and got an inheritance test at Gringotts." She barrelled through whatever was on the tip of his tongue. She was going to show him exactly how much he has lost since Lily. She was going to show him how much he had cost himself. "And guess what they told me? James Potter isn't my father. Probably the reason why he's decided to court me."

"Christ, Grace!" Hermione swore in the quiet.

The whole room watched them like a tennis match, bouncing from one face to the other. Ok, maybe she shouldn't have told him, or the people lingering really, about the courtship but she wanted to dig the screws in tight.

"How quaint, it is practically an incestuous relationship. I wish you both the best of luck." Snape declared with the most amount of disdain he could. Right up until the moment magic swirled around both Snape and Grace, accepting the words for what they were and settling the acceptance in their bones.

"Why thank you father, I'll let my intended know he has permission to finalize the courtship. He will be ever so thrilled."

"What did you do?" The words were spoken softly, but the deadly intent almost made her shiver.

"I didn't do anything, you did. Did I forget to mention the fact that the inheritance test proved that you were my father? Oh dear, what an oversight. Honestly, if I didn't have my head screwed on, I might forget it!" She said, feigning surprise.

He snarled at her and made an abortive move to grab her. "I am not your father!" He roared at her.

She stood tall and watched him with passive eyes. "No. You're not. I've never had a father."

She had no intention of arguing with him, she had no intention of trying to convince him of the truth. She didn't want Snape in her life, didn't need the hurt and anger in her life of the bone deep knowledge that her biological father despised her.

“Grace, where are you going?” A deep male voice called out to her.

“You don't really think I'd stick around here with him, did you?” Grace asked, turning around to face a solemn looking Kingsley.

“It's not safe.” He uttered softly.

“I don't give a fuck if Voldemort himself is out there right now.” Grace stated and ignored the frightened gasps as she stared Kingsley down.

“I understand a lot has changed in the past few weeks.” He started, clearly trying not to rile her up any further.

“Changed?” Grace said on a harsh laugh. “Changed? You haven't got a single clue, have you? My name is not Grace Potter, hasn't been for a while. I'm Grace Black-Gryffindor and I own this property, free and clear. It obeys my wants and needs and if you really want to keep me here, then I'll have no choice but to kick each and every one of you out of my home.”

“Grace please don't do anything too hasty-“

“Hasty? I just don't want to be here anymore. There's nothing 'hasty' about that. Fuck. Off. The next person to try and stop me will never step another foot in my house again.” Grace growled out.

It would have been nice, she thought wistfully as she grabbed her bag and left the room, to have someone, a parent, who loved her. Someone who was proud of her no matter what life choices she made. To have someone to lean on, give advice, hug her when she was sad, take care of her when she was sick. But she had known the truth of her fate when she was old enough to realize that the Dursley's were treating her differently. Nobody had ever cared enough about her to help her in any way.

Until James.

James had washed away the hurt caused by Sirius' careless actions. James had helped Remus realize how much she meant to him. James had given her a safe place to simply be herself and for that she would give him the world. For that, she would burn the world.

They were wrong when they called her the Saviour. She wasn't. She had always been the one who needed a saviour.

James was the Saviour. Was her saviour.

For James, she would join Voldemort if he asked.

To keep James safe, she would kill Voldemort.

The simple truth was that Severus Snape was years too late to be anything to her. She was already lost to him.

\---******---

“You knew?” Severus stated blandly, watching Albus like a hawk.

“I'm sorry?” Albus asked in confusion, not sure exactly what Severus was referring to.

“You knew.” Severus decided with a nod. “You knew she was my daughter. How long, Albus?”

Albus closed his eyes, the heavy weight on his shoulders feeling unbearably heavy in that moment. “A few weeks. Arthur came to me.” He confessed sadly.

“Arthur. Arthur knew and neither one of you came to me.”

“We wanted to give her a choice.”

“From what I just heard you didn't give her any choice at all. Did you even think of me?”

“Of course we thought of you! You're position in this war is precarious enough without this kind of information getting out. You may not like our decision but we made the best ones under the circumstances presented to us.”

“The war. Never mind my personal life. If this is true then I have a daughter I have no memory of, with a woman I don't remember having a relationship with after Hogwarts.” Severus stated angrily before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I came to give you my report. The Dark Lord has finally started to move. He's given orders for several revels and is starting to target specific Ministry employees. Severus reported as he handed over a parchment filled with names. Those are the ones I'm certain of.”

“Thank you Severus. I know the risks you take.”

“Platitudes will get you nowhere old man.” Severus hissed out before turning on his heel and walking out the door.

Albus had never felt older than he did in that moment.

\---******---

He was her anger.

She was his rage.

She needed.

He took.

She craved.

He provided.

Her ties were cut, her leashes broken. She had made her stand, she had set down her power. She was bending towards the darkness, shaking off the lingering chains.

Would they fear her? Fear what they had made? Fear what they had forced upon her? Their creation turned dark, turned black, turned red with their blood.

How they would tremble at her feet, begging for things she had never gotten.

She was done hiding.

She was done cowering.

Was it time to accept him?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Grace and James deserve a little one on one time, right?


	14. Resound the Hymn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Holidays to all (celebrating or not) and happy reading!
> 
> !!WARNING!! There is a bit of mentioned torture and gore so if you're not into that, please mind the !!!'s and skip that section. Holidays or not, mental health comes first.
> 
> *Just a note to say that I've made Grace know about horcruxes a lot earlier because it worked out better that way. Plot! Muahahaha!
> 
> No beta has been seen since the beginning of this story, mistakes are happy about this.

She can't think, she can't breathe, all she knows is she has to get out. Out of this oppressive house with its weighing shadows and haunted corners. Away from the looks, the judgements, the opinions of how she should be living her life. She barely has enough sense to gasp out the name of a house-elf before they whisk her away to her cottage where she promptly falls to the floor and lets herself fall apart.

_She fucked up._

Despite the empowering moment, she never _ever_ wanted him to know. She had never planned on telling him, never planned on letting Dumbledore and Mr. Weasley push her into a corner like that. That's why she got her attorneys involved, that was the whole point of getting an injunction against them. He was never going to be allowed to know, and now he did. It didn't matter if he didn't believe her, it didn't matter if he ever accepted her or not, it was the mere fact that the information was out there now. He knew.

She let herself be pulled up by slightly panicked house-elves, let them titter around her, let them clean her up and tuck her into bed. She let them put a little dreamless sleep into a glass of water and drank it down, hoping that when she woke up all of this would be a horrible nightmare. Wishful thinking lulled her into sweet nothingness before she let herself be embraced by a darkness that had always felt comforting.

\---******---

James chuckled under his breath, pleased at inciting the twins to prank their useless brother. A way to keep morale low, a way to keep that boy in his place and keep his sticky fingers off of things that didn't belong to him. He was a nuisance but not a problem and that was just the way James wanted to keep him. A pathetic figure pining away for the girl of his dreams from a rather substantial distance and if it was up to James, he would only ever be allowed to look. As long as he still had eyes, anyway.

Turning the corner to head to the kitchen, he bumped into another figure. He grunted at the impact and stumbled a step back before catching himself. In the same second his eyes flew up and caught Snape staggering backwards as well. Their gazes collided and Snape sneered as James started to grin.

"Well, well, well, what did the Death Eaters let go? Are you sure you're allowed out without your leash, _pet_?"

"_You_." Snape snarled in barely concealed rage.

"Me. All these years later and your vocabulary is still shite."

"And you're still the same pathetic teenager you were. Peter Pan would be thrilled."

"Was that a compliment? My my, Snivellus, getting soft in your old age, are you?"

"What do you want with Potter?"

James smirked. "I am Potter."

"Grace." Snape hissed through clenched teeth.

"Haven't you heard? I'm family."

"Haven't you heard? _I'm_ her father."

James narrowed his eyes, posture becoming stiff as he observed Snape's triumphant gleam. "Where did you hear that pretty lie?"

"Albus had several things to say to me, actually, that being one of the more salacious ones. Perhaps you should start to wonder what else he told me."

"Told you? He likely only told you because it suited his needs, _pet_. Let's not bite the hand that feeds, shall we?"

Snape pulled his wand out, hand clenching the wood tightly even though he hadn't raised it yet. "Pet? Perhaps I should inform Albus of a certain _rumour_ that has been making the rounds. Peace talks?"

James barked out a laugh. "There's no peace to be had with Death Eaters."

"You always thought you were so clever with your little deflections. We are not children anymore and your pathetic evasions are even more obvious now. How anyone can stand to be in your vicinity is a mystery to everyone who has ever met you."

"Let's ask Evans that, shall we? Oh wait..."

"Stay away from her Potter." Snape snarled again, practically vibrating where he stood.

"She's dead, Snivellus. I had thought you had more brains in your head than that, but clearly I was wrong."

"Grace.” Snape stated, his wand twitching enough to be dangerous. “Stay away from her."

"And why would I do that? You have no power over her, the Ministry wouldn't support your 'claims' of parenthood, and most importantly, she's the Head of two prominent Houses. Any control you thought to have over her is well and truly gone."

"Maybe I should tell her exactly who you really are."

"Should you?” James asked as he smirked in delight. “Hm, and maybe I should tell her who it was that let slip an important detail to his master. Something about a prophecy, wasn't it?"

Snape turned pale. "Keep away from her."

"Or what?" James laughed in delight. "Will you forbid her? The man she knows hates both her and me beyond a doubt. You think she'll listen to anything you have to say?"

"I will tell her everything."

"So tell her. I would be delighted to see where your 'truth' will get you. She's mine, she's always been mine and I have no intention of letting you have any part of her." A bright light soared past his ear and James turned his head towards Snape with a dark smile. "Attacking me now? This will certainly bring you back into her good graces. And with such poor aim."

"I know who you are." Snape hissed dangerously. "I know what you did with him. Keep away from her before I show her who you really are."

"I'm the person she runs to when she's in trouble. I'm the person she believes because I've never lied to her. I'm the person she trusts because I tell her everything she needs to know. _Who. Are. You_?"

Snape narrowed his eyes but kept his wand up. "I'm her father."

"So you've said. And on Albus' word alone. That man has never once lied to you, of course. Never held anything back from you. _Never_ decided it was for the good of many instead of the good of one. Are you sure you're her father? When was the last time you saw Evans, Snivellus?"

"She's mine! Lily was mine!" Snape screamed as he took a step closer.

"Prove it. Where are the pictures? Where is the evidence? All you have is the word of one old man who is far more interested in war than he is your private life. Do you have anything other than his word?"

"I have Pot-Grace's."

"Do you? The girl who knows you hate her for simply breathing? The girl you go out of your way to humiliate? That Grace? You want to believe a student so hell bent on getting one over on you that she spewed a few lines that shocked you and now you believe? How very remarkable."

"She went to the goblins."

"As many people do. Did she offer any proof of this? Or did she just scream it at you before storming out of the room?"

"You are not her father." Snape said, clearly trying to keep his wits about him.

"Of course not. I always knew that. I was prepared to keep her safe in exchange for my life. You didn't even know she existed. A bit difficult to believe that she's your daughter then, isn't it?"

"That proves nothing."

"You have the word of two people with no evidence."

"Arthur knew."

"And who did he learn this information from?" Seeing Snape clench his jaw had James smiling in victory. "Didn't even bother to chase after the facts did we? My my, _Snivellus_, what a loyal pet you are."

"I will find out the truth and I will make sure that you are kept as far away from her as possible. I believe a grave should be reserved for you."

"The truth? You want to know the truth? You had six years of learning who she really was, if she really is yours at all, and all you did was push her so far away she'd rather see you dead than her father. I'm the man she's falling in love with, a decade younger than any of you, and someone willing to be by her side whenever she needs me. I tell her the truth of the war, I keep her safe, and most importantly she trusts me. Can you say the same? Can she trust you?"

"I'll kill you."

"A sad, pathetic attempt no doubt. Try to hurt yourself in the attempt, if you would. Entertainment is so hard to find these days." James said with a put-upon sigh.

Snape sneered at the sigh. "You say that as if I couldn't just poison you where you stand."

"As my future father-in-law, I'm not sure that would be the path I would choose."

"Father-in-law?"

"Haven't you heard? I'm Courting your darling girl." James pretended to think. "Actually..._my_ darling girl. Well, there won't be too much of a difference then after all. I get the girl and you're left with the possibilities that never came to pass."

"Rotting in a grave is too good for you. I'm sure Azkaban will welcome you with open arms. I will even visit. I'll be sure to keep you updated on Grace's behalf." Snape scoffed before storming out of the room as James' laughter followed him out.

He was a problem now, James acknowledged, his laughter cutting off as soon as he heard the door slam shut. He _hated_ problems. Perhaps it was time the potions master had a little accident while in his lab. One experimental potion, a few ingredients that should have never been mixed. Who could have possibly known he was playing with such volatile compositions?

What had gone wrong? The last he knew, Grace had no intention of telling Snape anything, let alone scream it at him in front of a bloody audience. This complicated his plans, not too much, but enough that he now had to be careful of another set of eyes watching him. James clenched his teeth to stave off the fury he felt rising in his blood. Somehow, someway, he knew this was Albus' doing. That man was somehow always in the middle of anything to do with Grace.

"What put that expression on your face?" A soft feminine voice asked from behind him.

"Severus." James answered after he glanced in the direction of the voice and seeing Dorcas at the door watching him. "He was...in a mood." James said delicately, in a tone he knew would gain some sympathy.

Dorcas winced. "Yes, I imagine he would have been. It's been a long day for him and I imagine his days will only get longer."

"Longer?"

"I just spoke with Albus, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has finally begun his open campaigning."

James blinked in surprise. "I thought he already had started his recruitment?"

"He has, yes. It seems he's pushing forwards rather quickly now. He's begun his revels."

"Merlin." James said softly.

Dorcas nodded in agreement. "I had hoped it would take longer than this, but I suspect I would have always thought it actually happening would have been too soon. Those poor muggles."

"Can we prevent it?"

"Have we ever?" Dorcas retorted grimly. "Severus gave us four possible times and places so we are prepared as can be, but there will always be casualties. Hopefully we can keep those to a minimum this time around."

"One can never really know with him." James said with a meaningful look.

"No indeed." Dorcas said with a deep sigh, the weight of the war weighing heavily on her shoulders.

James wondered briefly if he could care as much as she did in the survival of people he didn't care for at all. What was another muggle to him? As long as Voldemort kept well away from Grace, the man could kill whomever he bloody well pleased.

Although, Snape being the one to tell Albus about all of this meant that Snape was meant to participate in at least one of these revels. Perhaps a potions accident was too difficult. A fight with the aurors, on the other hand. Well. That had potential. Not only would his name be disgraced, but he would also be out of James' hair and Grace would never have to worry about him. The added bonus that she wasn't particularly attached to Snape only meant that he would be completely forgotten in time.

"Is it true?" Dorcas asked softly, looking at James with a quiet sort of hunger that made him frown.

"Hm?"

"Sorry." Dorcas blushed as she looked away. "It's just. Before his report, Severus and Potter had a bit of a falling out."

"Not hard to do with Severus." James pointed out.

Dorcas laughed lightly even as it sounded awkward. "No. She indicated, rather said outright actually, that you weren't her father but that Severus was."

"That's quite a falling out." James remarked lightly.

"And that she's the Head of two Houses!" Dorcas continued on, seemingly encouraged by James’ non-answer despite the subtle warning he had been giving her.

"Is that so?" James asked silkily, a clear warning in his tone now. "Which one in particular are you doubting here?"

"Dou-no! I'm just looking for the facts." Dorcas stressed, taken aback by his tone.

James raised an eyebrow. "Are you? If you were looking for the facts, you would have gone to the Ministry and checked their records. The fact that you have gone to someone who wasn't even in the room as this 'falling out' was happing, tells me that you're merely looking for gossip."

"I'm looking for the truth." Dorcas stressed carefully.

"You are a Lord of your House. A minor House, but a House all the same."

Dorcas looked confused. "As are you."

"And you don't see my asking if it's true that your niece was caught in an indecent embrace not two weeks ago, do you?"

"My niece?” She asked, standing taller in the face of the insult. “She would never! How dare you!"

"And yet you dare ask me the same thing." James mocked her.

"Those are completely different situations." She protested weakly, clearly knowing she was in the wrong.

"Are they? They seem similar from my perspective."

Dorcas swallowed loudly. "You are wholly out of line."

"No, I'm putting you back in your place. Both Grace and I are Lords of our Houses and as such we are given the same amount of respect that every Lord is given, something you have clearly forgotten. If you wanted to check her claims without embarrassing your House, you would have done so in a quiet manner. That you haven't done that and have come straight to another Lord to gossip is clearly a gross over estimation of the power you wield."

"I never meant any offense." Dorcas stated stiffly.

"And now you are a liar. There can be no other reason for your behaviour. Grace may be young but she is not stupid. Moreover she is a close friend of House Potter and as such you have insulted all of our Houses. I would be very careful of your next move, unless you intend to start a blood feud."

"I offer my formal apologies, Lord Potter." Dorcas said through clenched teeth. "It will not happen again, you have the assurances of my House."

James' eyes turned hard. "Make sure that it doesn't. Idle gossip doesn't suit your meagre station as a minor House."

James watched the woman march away with little satisfaction. Clearly the standards with minor Houses had fallen if this was what they did. In and of itself it didn't mean much, but in the grand scheme of things this could mean trouble. He was already being careful but you can only be so careful with the entirety of the British Wizarding society watching your every move. He needed to find out how things had gotten so out of hand. He couldn't fix this, but maybe he could use it to his advantage. First and foremost, however, he needed to find Grace.

\---******---

Ron silently snarled as he made his way down the stairs again. Not only was he utterly humiliated, _again_, but having one prank after the other directed solely at him was starting to grate on his nerves. He knew the twins never really meant any harm by their pranks, but James? James had been a problem the moment he came back into Grace's life. Ron wasn't an idiot, he knew what James was doing and he wasn't the least bit amused. One protective ‘father’ and his chances to keep Grace all to himself were dead in the water.

Hearing raised voices, he snuck in closer to listen. That sounded like Snape, the git, but the other voice was definitely James. What where they yelling about? Ron's eyes grew large as his jaw dropped in shock. _Snape_ was Grace's father?! Bloody hell! Hang on, but if that was true, if it was really actually true, then that meant that James Potter officially had no say in what Grace said or did. Better yet, he had no say in who could and couldn't Court her. Although, come to think of it, James not being her father meant that he never had a say. Why hadn’t that thought occurred to him before now?

Which made him think. Why would a man who wasn't a girl's father, be that protective of her? Did it have something to do with their past, when Grace was a baby? Did it matter? James had been a problem from the start and now Ron had the chance to take him off the board all together. And if James was willing to go that far to get rid of Ron, why should he do the same? Grace would never notice him with James around, but if James was gone...

It was time to even the playing field. He was certain he could make a few accidents happen. Maybe it was time to see if Mundungus was good for something other than stealing.

\---******---

Grace spent two days wandering aimlessly around her newly refurbished and redecorated cottage before one of her house-elves handed her a pile of letters. One of them was from Hermione who told her not to worry about a thing and to take all the time she needed since she was headed out to the Krum's a bit earlier anyway. Wincing a little because she really hadn't thought much about her best friend in the midst of her emotional crisis, she made a mental note to get her an extra gift as a thank-you. And a letter back, of course, since hearing nothing at all only meant warning bells going off and it was a little selfish of her not to have let her friends hear from her at all, emotional crisis or not.

The second letter was from an irate Ron demanding Courting rites since James was not her father and couldn't order him about. She threw that one in the fire. Ginny happily told her about the fall-out of her outburst and how all the adult members of the Order were losing their collectives minds over the fact that Grace Potter, Girl-Who-Lived, was now actually Grace Black-Gryffindor and not only a member of the Wizengamot, but also, and far more disturbing, Grace Snape. Or Evans. Nobody really knew and nobody had any idea how this would influence the war proceedings. Grace sighed at that, because of course it came back down to the war and how it affected other people. Gits. Fred and George only congratulated her on her mischief and warned her that the next time she expected to do something like that, that she'd better warn them in advance so they could get good seat and better snacks.

To her great dismay, both Dumbledore and Snape had written her letters as well. Snape's she left closed since she honestly didn't know what she was feeling and wasn’t sure what she would read if she opened it. He would either be mean (highly likely) or want her forgiveness (which obviously was never going to happen). Dumbledore's letter she knew she couldn’t ignore since it might be important so she decided to open it later. Maybe tomorrow. Or the day after. At least before she saw him again, anyway. Probably.

Her favourite, by far, was James'.

_Darling,_

_I think you forgot something in your haste to get away. Me. Come get me._

_Yours._

She choked on a laugh and marvelled at the man's ego before laughing properly and asking her head house-elf Rall to go and get him. Rall popped back ten minutes later and explained that James had asked to be picked up later so he could, firstly, pack a bag, and secondly that he could make a decent excuse to where he was going for the holidays now that Grace wasn't around to keep him there. Grace only shook her head with a small smile playing on her lips and told Rall that it was ok to pick James up later.

Which left her with absolutely nothing to do in the meanwhile. All the rooms where furbished, the pantry stocked, dinner was well on its way to being made, and all the chores she could have been doing had already been done. To be fair, she could have been doing her winter homework, but nobody wanted to be _that_ fair. Not before Yule at least.

When a faint ‘pop’ reached her ears and a male voice rumbled something unidentifiable, Grace realized she had spent the last few hours between knowing James was coming to James actually being there wondering what she could be doing without actually doing anything. She was rather impressed with herself and promptly decided she needed a better way to structure her day or she'd become a sad lump of nothing very quickly.

Turning the corner she was met with the sight of James handing his cloak over to Rall before he turned to look at the room he was in. She smiled when he caught sight of her, only growing larger as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.

"Grace." He stated in a very bland tone.

"James." She returned in the same tone.

"Lovely, you remember me!” James declared wildly. “I had almost lost hope you would recognise me."

Grace sniggered, feeling lighter by the second. "That's very dramatic of you."

"Says the woman who left me behind, no notice whatsoever. No letter, no signs of life, what is a man to do?"

"Clearly wonder how to draft a dramatic monologue to be used when you first see me again."

"Grace." James stated sternly.

"James." She returned just as sternly.

He walked over to her and slipped his arm around her waist as his other hand found its way into her hair. "Did you miss me?" He asked softly, searching her features.

"Terribly. Once I remembered you naturally. Terrible business. Almost forgot you existed." Grace said softly, a wicked smiled on her lips.

James shook his head but smiled in delight. "Brat. Want to explain to me what happened?"

Grace looked at him in surprise. "You weren't there?"

"Darling, if I was there I wouldn't have let you out of my sight." He murmured as the hand in her hair come to cup her cheek in a quick caress before joining his other arm around her waist.

"I'm not sure I want to talk about it just now." She admitted quietly.

James nodded as he gave her a quick hug before looking around him. "How about you show me around then? Perhaps guide me to my bed?"

"We're not doing anything!" Grace blurted out as red crept across her face.

"Why Grace, darling, what kind of salacious thoughts are you having?" James said with a laugh and a wink.

"I'm-never-didn't!" She stuttered out.

"Besides it being explicitly stated in our contracts that we wait until after the bonding, I wouldn't do anything you aren't ready for."

"Yes, well. I had to point that out."

"I'm sure you did. Imagine my surprise at being propositioned in such a manner. I could have been ravished against my will! I don't know how I'd survive that. Do you usually pounce on all your guests?"

"James!" She yelled in embarrassment.

"Grace." He returned with a filthy smile.

Grace huffed a laugh and rolled her eyes. "Fine. A bedroom, right?"

"Unless you've already decided otherwise?"

"I'm sure the floor is fine too." She snarked.

James held out his hands in a gesture of peace. "Alright, alright, I shall tone it down."

"Thanks.” Grace muttered before turning and showing him his room. “Anyway, this is it."

"It's lovely. Simple yet elegant, I approve.” James nodded, looking around in interest. “Where are you sleeping?"

Grace narrowed her eyes. "Next door."

"Lovely." He intoned in a far too scandalous manner. "Dinner?"

She shook her head in grudging amusement. "You're incorrigible, you know that?"

"I have heard something of the sort over the years, but it's been so long." James lamented as he followed Grace to the dining room. "I really do like how you've decorated. Quite the homey feel, a place to retreat and relax where formality has no say."

"I wanted it to be a sanctuary. No one apart from you and Hermione know it exists and there are so many spells and enchantments on it that it doesn't exist at all even if you were standing in the back garden."

"A safe place." James murmured with a sharp look in his eyes.

"A safe place." Grace echoed softly as she brushed her fingers across the walls before shaking herself and sitting down, motioning for James to do the same.

"So what have you been doing these past few days that you've completely forgotten about the man of your dreams?"

"Voldemort?"

"Hilarious."

Grace grinned impishly before shrugging and letting herself get distracted by their dinner appearing before them. "Thank you." She called out before starting to plate up.

"Grace." James admonished when it became clear she was going to ignore the question.

"It wasn't so much what I was doing, so much as what I was avoiding doing." She admitted.

"Ah." James nodded. By an unspoken request the subject was dropped which eased Grace's anxiousness and helped them both enjoy dinner and dessert.

"I wish I never told Mr. Weasley." Grace murmured softly some time after dinner, both of them sitting close together on the couch in the living room and staring aimlessly into the roaring fire.

"Because you wanted to keep this a secret longer?" He asked as he pulled her into his arms.

"Because I never wanted him to know." Grace confessed as she dropped her head on his shoulder. "I might have thought about it, the sort of 'worst case scenario' or 'the best reaction', but I never wanted to actually tell him anything."

"He's your father." He murmured quietly into her hair.

"Biologically. From the moment I stepped foot in Hogwarts, he hated me. Hated. I've never been despised so much for simply existing and he did.” Well, apart from the Dursley’s, but did they really count when they did know her? “Why would I ever want a man who has tormented me on a daily basis to know that he has some sort of say in my life?” It was like learning that she would have to live with the Dursley's for the rest of her life without ever being able to get out. She shivered in response to that thought. James, most likely having felt the shiver, pulled her in closer to his heat.

"So those moments of indecision?"

"Wistful thinking I suppose. I never wanted him to know, and then Mr. Weasley knew and then Dumbledore knew and now Snape knows. Now everyone will know and I feel like I never had a choice in the whole thing at all."

"It's done now." James said gently.

"It might be done, but I'm the one who still has to learn to live the consequences." A heavy silence fell at that, the knowledge that Grace was somehow always the one paying for these consequences lying heavily on her heart.

"It's not a total loss." James said suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Grace asked, looking up at him.

"I get my Yule wish. You and me, a nice peaceful holiday celebration of our own. The start of our own traditions." He stated softly, his hand running softly through her hair before leaning forward and kissing her gently.

"Well, you are here for Yule and it is just you and me." Grace said, hardly believing that a simple kiss like that could steal her breath.

"Lucky us." He said with a smirk before laying her down on the couch and kissing her in ways she wasn’t sure she could live without anymore. That man could _kiss_.

The next few days were some of the best Grace could ever remember having. It wasn't so much the freedom or the lack of people around her, it was the knowledge that for the first time in her life she could do whatever she wished. Sleep late? Who would notice? Skip breakfast and have a large lunch? Who would care? She was allowed to be truly lazy for the first time in her life and she revelled in it. Right up until the moment she started to drive herself crazy because all that freedom? It was boring. Totally and utterly boring. She could read, but she wasn't really in the mood. She could cook, but the Dursley's killed all the fun connected with cooking and the one time she did try, her house-elves kicked her out of the kitchen. So she did what any self-sufficient woman would do. She went to bother James.

James, as it turned out, had a rather bizarre notion of how to alleviate her boredom and she quickly understood why he had been as popular as he had been at Hogwarts. James was fun. Build snowmen? Alright, but then they had to animate them and wage war against each other until their respective snowmen fell apart, and thus a winner would be announced. Snowball fight? Only if they doubled the snow and build underground tunnels to sneak up and attack each other. Cheating was, clearly, allowed and encouraged.

Three days passed in a happy sort of bubble that Grace felt pop quite viciously with the arrival of her mail. Gaining two Houses had made her rather sought after for the holiday season. Letter after letter invited her to every party of the season and with every invitation, she felt her nauseousness grow. She didn't want this! She had only just spilled her guts (unwillingly but also still willingly) about Snape, and now she had to parade around society and pretend she was fine? No thank you.

The one invitation she did immediately accept was the one to the Parkinson’s wedding. Partly because she had promised Ginny and Hermione, and partly because she knew not going would damage her reputation. As a new Head of House, it was acceptable to miss the first holiday season (she looked it up) since there could be House related issues she still had to deal with. Declining a wedding invitation, on the other hand, was akin to spitting in everyone's face. It was an epic sort of snub that you essentially never recovered from. Or so Hermione had owled her as a gentle reminder that she had to accept. Which, go figure.

"A letter?" James asked coming up behind her and pulling her into his embrace as he put his chin on her shoulder.

"From Hermione. Apparently Krum has been taking her to several pre-Yule parties so he can get them both introduced to society." She said showing him the letter.

"A good move for a foreign wizard." James nodded in approval.

"She wants me to join her." She said suddenly.

"And you don't want to." He deduced.

"No. The only one I'll go to is Parkinson's wedding and that's only because I know how horrible it would be if I didn't. This is our first holiday together. I don't want to share it with anyone else, especially not after everything that happened." Part of the truth was still the truth right? He was one reason, but he was also one of many that she didn’t feel like explaining to him.

James turned her around and smiled, a quiet thing that held so much possession that it made her stomach flutter with nerves." I think, given the circumstances, that you are allowed to be as selfish with me as you wish."

She swallowed loudly and changed the subject. "You said earlier something about starting our own traditions."

James’s smiled turned into a knowing smirk. "I did."

"What traditions do you usually have?" Grace asked with a warning frown that James simply chuckled at.

"The traditions I want us to share you mean? Well, the Wizarding holiday we usually celebrate this time of year is Yule, which you ought to know because I've heard you curse yourself for saying 'Christmas' instead."

Grace shrugged. "Habit. So is Yule the same as Christmas then? With everything going on I didn't really get a chance to check."

"It won't be important this year since not many people know that you are currently the Lord of two Houses, but next year people will be looking to you as a symbol for our future."

"As in whether or not I'm going to follow Wizarding traditions instead of muggle ones?"

"Exactly that. Currently, people are more worried about whether or not they're going to survive this new looming war, but once that's over..." James trailed off with a pointed look.

"And you think that'll happen next year?"

James smiled darkly. "I'm not about to let a threat like Voldemort hang over our heads for too much longer darling."

She rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Yule?"

"Yule. Yule is traditionally a twelve day festival that-"

"Twelve days?!"

He looked amused. "Of course darling. Why did you think you have been receiving so many invitations?"

"But that's loads more than twelve!"

James sneered at that. "Yes. It's rather gauche if you ask me."

"Snob."

"Pureblood, darling. I also suspect it's because you're new to the scene and everyone wants to be the one to have had Grace Black-Gryffindor at their Yule celebration." He said with a shrug as he guided her to the couch before sitting down and then pulling her down next to him.

"Of course they do." Grace said as she plopped down next to him, her elbow _mysteriously_ hitting his stomach.

He grunted in pain and looked at her suspiciously before continuing. "Traditionally speaking, the titled Houses get together at the end of the summer to plan for Yule."

"At the end of summer? That's ages!"

"Since I have never been privy to exactly what goes into planning this sort of thing, I wouldn't know, but judging by the results, I'd say it was necessary."

Grace winced as she already envisioned herself having to the very sort of thing in her future. "Shite."

He hummed in agreement. "The titled Houses gather together and appoint eleven Houses to host each day. Each year a different House is chosen and no House that was chosen last year may be chosen again the next."

"So it's a sort of competition?"

"With Purebloods everything is a competition, but in this case it's also about wanting to make sure we hang on to our traditions. Children may learn about Christmas at Hogwarts, but they will grow up with Yule."

"So seven years of Christmas won't mean much in the face of a whole life time of Yule?"

"That is the hope. It also helps that most Purebloods rarely keep their children at Hogwarts knowing they would be exposed to Christmas."

"Huh." Grace said with a thoughtful nod even as she thought back to second year when Malfoy was stuck at the castle with her. "What happens when they are forced to stay at Hogwarts?"

"I'm not sure." James said slowly. "It didn't happen when I went to Hogwarts, but I suspect nothing serious. One Christmas won't change a history of Yule."

She hummed in agreement as she thought about not having a Christmas tree for Christmas. "Your traditions made the holiday so it would make sense that if you grew up with them, that you would find others tolerable but would always ultimately go back to the way you celebrated." She said with a nod. "So what happens to the muggleborns?"

"What do you mean?" He asked in confusion.

"Well, if you think about it, they grow up with Christmas and then go to Hogwarts where Christmas is still celebrated and accepted. We don't know any different and nobody has taught us that there are other celebrations. The teachers don't teach us, so how would we know?"

"What are you implying?"

"Same thing as before really. Muggleborns don't know there's anything is wrong with what they're doing because we're taught it isn't wrong and the Purebloods only sneer at us for doing it. How are we to know what's wrong if we don't know there's something wrong from the beginning? Why isn't there a class on this? Why aren't we being taught about Yule?"

"If you grew up with Christmas and never knew about Yule, at eleven would you be able to tell your friend about Christmas even though you don't know he doesn't celebrate it?"

"Er, what?" She asked, thoroughly confused.

"Not all Purebloods and half-bloods know each other. We all assume quite a bit about each other so it wouldn't occur to us as children to inform each other about our holiday traditions."

"But the adults-?"

"Don't really care. You have parents and homes and traditions all of your own. How are they supposed to keep up with a school full of different religions and beliefs?"

"Alright, ok, that's fair, but shouldn't there at least be a class about it?"

"Did you have one in muggle school?"

"How would I know? I was only ten the last time I went!" She protested.

"Unless Hogwarts had a specific class on religion and belief, it would be a nightmare to try and teach in one lesson."

Grace sighed as she saw the obvious pitfalls. Parents being outraged that their children where only being taught one specific religion and not another, while other parents would be outraged that Hogwarts was teaching them these things at all. "I see your point."

"These things never have easy answers." He said gently before grabbing a blanket from behind her and throwing it over their laps.

"No, but not having one at all isn't exactly the best recourse either. So. Back to the twelve days of Yule."

"Of course. Yule is traditionally a twelve day festival, where each day represents a different facet of our lives and our magic."

"So like, each day is a different theme?" Grace asked, distracted when Cann popped into the room and set down a tray with two cups of hot chocolate and a mountain of whipped cream.

"Of a sort.” James nodded as he took both cups and handed her one. “We open the Yule festival with a hunt."

"What, a real hunt? Like, hunting foxes hunting?" She questioned in shock as her hands curled around the cup to leech all the heat she could. She’d always had cold hands and this time of year made it worse than usual.

"Not at all. Mostly it centres on the symbolism of the act. Although, now that I think about it, we usually came back with either a goat or a boar." James said with a shrug as he slung his arm around her shoulders.

"Right." Grace said slowly as she leaned into James’ side. "So where do you go for the hunt?"

"Go? You go to the House that has the honour of opening the festival."

"But...the hunt?" She asked surprised.

James sniggered at Grace's confusion. "Most Houses are estates. As in, they are attached to a large piece of land. Like both of your properties."

Grace rolled her eyes as she hit James in the arm, making sure not to spill either of their drinks. "Git. So the first day is just coming together and everyone who wants to be a part of it going on this hunt."

"Yes. Which is followed the by the second day, the sacrifice."

"Oh for the love of all that is holy." Grace groaned as she buried her face in his chest. "You're going to kill the goat aren't you?"

James’ chest rumbled underneath her as he laughed. "That's usually what sacrifice means."

"Why are we killing the goat?" She asked resigned as they both took a sip of their hot chocolate. Grace sighed in relief that it wasn’t too decadent and that the whipped cream added to the light flavour instead of making the hot chocolate itself drinkable. Humming in pleasure she took another sip and snuggled in closer to James.

"Well, in times past we didn't have the means, even magically, to keep livestock alive during harsh winters." He continued after swallowing his gulp.

"So you killed them?!"

"Better them than us." James said with a shrug. "But that act became more symbolic over the years until it became the tradition we have now."

"I might want to skip that day."

James eyed her suspiciously. "You do realize that you won't be asked to kill the animal don't you? You probably won’t even be present for the act."

"Is that really the point here?" She asked weakly, knowing that was exactly what she had thought.

"And that you eat goat at Hogwarts." He pointed out with a frown, not letting the subject drop.

"Yeah, but I don't have to see his face first!"

James shook his head. "Your logic astounds me, but let's move on."

"Good idea.” She nodded. “Day three."

"Day three is a feast."

"I should have known."

"If you had known then you would have known the goat gets eaten on the second day."

"Urg. Fine. No more dead goats and we feast on day three. Is there any special food?"

James made a so-so gesture with his hand. "That usually depends on which House has that particular honour. Some are more stringent to holding on to the old ways, whereas others are a bit more relaxed."

"So what's the difference?"

"Traditional Yule meals include festive meats, winter vegetables, preserved or dried fruits, and nuts."

"And not-quite-non-traditional?"

"All meats, vegetables of all sorts as well as any and all fruits we can get our hands on."

"Not a huge difference between the two then."

"Say that to a traditionalist." James joked.

"So, we've hunted, killed, eaten, and partied. What's next?"

"A fertility rite."

"Hm? What now? Is this a sex thing?" Grace asked suspiciously.

"Is that what's on your brain lately darling?" James purred as he pulled her in close, then surprising her by taking her now empty cup out of her hands and placing both cups back on the table and winking at her when she huffed.

Grace smacked his chest as she rolled her eyes when he leaned back. "No! But now I know where yours went."

"It's not a sex thing." He said as he pulled her back close and kissed her lightly. "But I wouldn't mind changing that next year."

"Git." Grace replied with traitorous twitching lips before leaning forward and kissing him back.

"A fertility rite doesn't mean sex, there are children involved in the festival if you recall."

"Definitely no sex then." She said with a vigorous nod.

"Although, there are a lot of children born in the summer months." James said thoughtfully.

"So sex then, just not in front of the children."

"I should hope not! This fourth day is usually when the men and women separate."

"Separate? As in do their own thing?"

"Yes and no. It's a tradition of light and dark. Then men leave as the light does and the women appear when the light comes back."

"And in the meantime?"

"Men do what men do and women do what women do." Grace snorted out a laugh before collapsing against James and dissolving into laughter. "Unless you would rather we all had sex?"

"No, no! What does that have to do with fertility exactly?" She asked as she sat up again, mirth still dancing in her eyes.

He rolled his eyes. "We eat lots of fruit."

"That's the symbol of fertility?"

"Generally."

"So you split up, eat fruit, and come back together?"

"It's symbolic Grace." James deadpanned.

"It's idiotic James." Grace deadpanned right back.

"Tradition, Grace." James pressed giving her a warning look.

"Ulg, fine. I'll probably have to do it anyway, right?"

"If you want to fit in, yes. Day five is a Yule walk."

"Oh. That sounds nice. No killing anything right?"

"No killing." James confirmed with a sigh. "We set out into the natural world and gather greenery to decorate our homes."

"Greenery? Any kind of Greenery?" Thinking of the general things you could find on a walk in the woods.

"Evergreens mostly, but mistletoe is acceptable as in holly, ivy, yew, Laurel, bayberry, thistle, sage, yellow cedar, frankincense, and pine."

"So you gather them and hang them around?"

"We are not barbarians, Grace. Depending on which House plans the activity, there is usually time to make kissing boughs and wreaths, and generally whatever you can make with the materials you have managed to gather."

"So it doesn't matter what you make?"

"Well, it ought to be festive at the very least. This is also the day that we will usually start looking for the final Yule log."

"Final? Hang on, there are more than one?"

"I'll get back to that since it will become clear on day twelve, but yes, there is more than one."

"Day six?" She prompted instead.

"Drinking. Lots and lots of drinking." James said with relish.

"Seriously?" Grace asked on a laugh.

"Oh yes, very much so.” He replied with a happy nod, clearly reminiscing of Yule’s past. “This day, besides the opening of the festival, is usually the most coveted day."

"_Seriously?!_ The drinking day?"

"It has become a symbol of the wealth of the House." James stated with a solemn nod that made her laugh. "Each House tries to out-do each other with the best version of wassail that has ever been made."

"Wassail?"

"A strong alcohol with a mixture of honey, spices, and/or mulled apple cider."

"Aha. That doesn't sound good."

"Oh no, it's the best part of the festival." He said with such sincerity that she couldn’t help but believe him.

"What about the children?" She asked instead, thinking of the fertility day.

"They are allowed a sip usually, but the real drinking doesn't happen until well after dark and most of the children have gone to bed."

"And then you just get drunk?"

James nodded. "Essentially."

"Sure. Alright then, why not. I'm not going to expect a lot for day seven am I?"

"Good guess. Day seven is another feast to soak up all that alcohol."

"So same rules as before or is this one different?"

"The same usually. People have tried to change it up over the years, but after a night of drinking, very few people care for the fancy stuff." James chuckled.

"And then?"

"Day eight is a calm one since many generally don't want to do anything too active, so it's a day of story telling."

"That sounds like fun! A whole day?"

"The House in charge has several stations set up during the day and different readers. It's usually broken up with games and food so nobody gets too fed up. Day nine is a day at home where we gather our greenery and decorate our homes, usually also the time we put up our Yule tree."

"Oh! Like a Christmas tree?"

"Of a kind. We decorate the tree with reds, greens, whites, silvers, and gold’s. We use bells, pinecones, berries, and fruits to decorate."

"A specific theme then."

"Quite so. Day ten is another feast."

"Really? How many feasts can you have?"

"The festival is a celebration of food and drinking, you're lucky there aren't more." James told her with a smirk.

"And this one is the same as the other two?"

"This one usually involves a lot of singing of the traditional songs."

"By the guests?" She guessed, already seeing how it would go.

"Depends on the host. Again, some are more traditional than others."

"And day eleven is drinking?" Grace presumed, sensing a theme.

"Yes, but quite a bit more subdued. It is more of a symbolic drink. This is more of a party than a feast or a day of drinking. There are songs and stories, dancing and eating and drinking."

"So everything combined really." James nodded. "All in preparation for day twelve?" Grace asked.

"Not quite. Day twelve is the lighting of the Yule log, but every day of those twelve you have already lit one. This last one is to signal the end of the festival and the renewal of the year."

"Question before we get to that. Does any of this have any kind of magic in it?"

"Odd question." He said with a small frown as he looked at her in confusion.

"We are magical so I figured magic must be in here somewhere right?" She clarified.

James thought about the question before slowly answering her. "Those twelve days, specifically after the hunt, create more magical chaos, I suppose."

"Meaning what? That muggles can see magic?"

James hummed in consideration. "Yes and no. A majority of folklore that muggles have come up with are usually derived from the influx of magic assembled during Yule. In my time there was a year where the dead even began walking the earth."

"Oh my fuck, wizards are responsible for zombies?!" Grace gasped in surprise as she sat up straighter.

"What are zombies?"

"Reanimated dead people."

"Necromancy?” He asked in surprise. “That's quite an outdated art. And illegal if I recall as well."

She deflated with a groan and slumped back against his chest. "Nevermind. So there is magic involved then?"

"Yes but also no. It isn't accurate to say yes because we don't use magic during the twelve days, ritually speaking of course since we do still use magic. However, magic is in us and around us, so with so many of us gathered and specifically celebrating our traditions..."

Grace sighed. "Well that got complicated quite quickly. Let's come back to that, day twelve?"

"The final day of Yule. The most important tradition by far is the lighting of the Yule log."

"I suppose it's nothing like lighting up a Christmas tree, is it?"

"Not in the least." James snorted with amusement. "The winter solstice, something only important during rituals, is the longest day of the year. The last day of Yule falls on the winter solstice. For those twelve days, every night we light a full log, usually ash but oak is acceptable, in a fireplace and keep it lit the whole night while there's no light."

"That’s a lovely thought.” She said softly, already imaging it. “And when the sun comes up?"

"The light goes out." James stated simply.

"So it's symbolic?"

"Isn't everything? We light the fire as the day dies and keep it alive until the morning."

"That's kind of nice."

"The last night of the Yule log, or the morning of, when the fires dies and the sun has risen, we usually save a piece of the charred wood to light the Yule fire next year."

"And since that's the longest night, do you spend that with others as well?"

"No. The last of the twelve is always reserved for family. It's highly unusual for someone to spend time with a family that is not their own."

"Is that another faux pas thing?"

"There are always extenuating circumstances, but yes."

Grace nodded in thought before something occurred to her. "The differences between Christmas and Yule are in and of itself not too far apart when you compare them on paper."

"But the traditions and values behind them are." James countered. "Indeed. We have our own songs, we light candles and decorate our homes with evergreen plants, we have feasts and celebrations, we dance and gather with family."

"And the exchanging of gifts? Is that still a thing too?"

"It is." James nodded. "Probably not in the same way though. It's common to exchange a gift for a gift."

"So if I had two...?" She hedged.

"Then either I would have to find another, which wouldn't be looked upon kindly on your part, or you would have to loose the second gift."

"Hang on, why would I be the one in trouble?"

James smiled at her. "Because you would be putting me in a very awkward position. I'm the one who only has one gift whereas you showed up with two. Either you intended to show off or you intended to humiliate me knowing I couldn't give a second gift."

"Right. Ok. That makes sense. So you just hand them out like Christmas?"

"No, we hang them on our Yule trees."

She blinked in surprise. "You what now?"

"I didn't realize you had a hearing problem." He said with a laugh as he pulled her sideways and slightly on top of him.

"I have a 'you' problem.” She huffed as she adjusted herself to a more comfortable position. “I suppose that's where we got the idea to put them under the tree for Christmas?" She asked as she put her hand on his chest and rested her chin on her hand as not to hurt him.

"Anything is possible.” He said with a smile so warm the only thing she could do was smile back. “I would hesitate to have an opinion either way."

"Any greetings I should know about? Like Happy Christmas? Happy holidays maybe?"

"A correct greeting would be 'brightest blessing on this Yuletide', and when you light the Yule log traditionally you would say ' with Yuletide warmth my hearth be blessed'."

"Not a spell?"

"It's not necessarily about magic, it's about tradition."

"Not necessarily." Grace repeated with narrowed eyes. "So this is where magic comes back in then?"

James nodded as he trailed his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion. "On the last night, when dawn first touches the ground, magic rises again with the sun."

"So...that means what exactly?"

"A renewal of sorts. It's difficult to describe the event if you have never been a part of it before." James said with a frown. "I'm not sure how to give words to the feeling of magic filling you up as the sun rises. It's...unique. You can tell me when you experience it yourself next year."

"Ne-hang on, next year?" She asked in surprise and getting up slightly.

"We can do the Yule logs this year and it is important you know the traditions but I'm afraid we've left it too late this year."

"So it's not vital?"

"Vital?" He asked, confused.

"You said magic was involved."

"Ah! No, it's a tradition, a way to keep in touch with our history and our magic but it's not a necessity. You won't die or miss out on anything because you miss a year."

Grace slumped in relief. "Good to know. Is there a reason we can't still do it?"

"Considering it is the twentieth today, I'd wager there's very little time left."

"So the lighting of the Yule log tomorrow?" She prompted.

"Will be the start of our traditions." James said with a nod.

"And Christmas?"

"I would rather not like to start celebrations that we probably won't continue." He said slowly, checking with her to see if that offended her.

Grace bit her lip in thought. "Well. It's not like this year is how it's going to be every year, so. If you don't mind. Maybe just this year?"

"How about a mix? We set up the Yule tree and put gifts beneath them to open on Christmas morning."

Grace nodded. "A mix of you and me."

The next few days flowed softly and quietly into each other, the Yule log was lit and shared in their household, Christmas coming soon after. Grace’s pile of presents was considerably larger than last year and were far more than she had any right to. She very much enjoyed all the gifts but couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated by the amount. James gave her a lovely bracelet that he said acted as a locating beacon if she was ever hurt or kidnapped. Considering her life, she very much appreciated the gift. In return, she had given him a Gryffindor heirloom cuff that would protect him from a large array of malicious spells and enchantments. The hours he spent kissing her after that made certain she knew he liked it. Very much.

The few short days after Christmas passed with a sort of intimacy she had never imagined when living with another person. James was attentive but was also very happy to do his own thing and let her carry on with whatever she wanted to do. He helped advise her when she needed an opinion on her preparations for the wedding and prepped her on proper etiquette so she wouldn’t blunder about like an idiot. It was a simple sort of happiness that she could admit she had never thought she would ever have, so naturally it was interrupted by more letters. Again.

"Fucking letters." Grace moaned as she accepted the pile from Cann. Grace looked at the first one and snorted derisively as she opened it.

"What's that?" James asked as he peered over her shoulder.

"A letter from Dumbledore. He wants to see me before I go back to Hogwarts."

James hummed in thought. "Any idea what he wants?"

"Several ideas, but nothing that makes it as urgent as this says it is." She said as she shook the letter lightly.

James made a humming noise of acceptance. "Are you going?"

"Might as well know what he wants before he corners me at Hogwarts. That would be awkward."

"I hope you understand that I can't let you go alone." He said with a slightly warning tone.

Grace sighed heavily. On the one hand she rebelled at the implication that she needed someone to go with her, but on the other hand she really didn't want to go alone if Dumbledore was going to bring up Snape. She didn't need James, not in any way, but just this once, she might actually want him there with her.

"There's something else." She started slowly, not quite sure how to start this and not knowing if this was something she'd regret later or not, but it had been on her mind for a while and she had been debating on the risks of telling him. "The lessons with Dumbledore..."

"The private lessons that neither of you have breathed a word of in company." He said with a raised eyebrow.

She ignored him. "It's...it's about Voldemort."

James nodded slowly. "Not the first thing I suspected, but it was on the list."

"You made a list?" Grace asked with a frown.

"You were being very secretive."

Grace rolled her eyes. "Idiot."

"So they are about Voldemort."

"Yes. Sort of. They're about Tom Riddle."

"A friend?" He mused.

"No, that's his real name."

"Well." James breathed out looking astounded. "Well." Grace nodded. "So he's been, what, telling you about a young Voldemort?"

"Yes. It's sort of...it's a way to better understand how his mind works. Or did work."

James frowned at that. "That certainly sounds like something Dumbledore would teach you." He mumbled thoughtfully. "Though I'm not convinced it would be helpful."

"That's the thing. It will help, eventually."

"Eventually.” He repeated blandly. “In what way?"

"In a way to help me defeat him."

James' hands clenched into fists as he sat up. "I thought that we had been over this, numerous times. It is not up to you to march up to a madman and declare war with him when there are competent adults around you. Adults with decades more experience than you."

Grace winced even as her feathers ruffled in annoyance. "That's not what this is."

"Then explain it to me before I tie you up and refuse to let you leave this house."

"Vol-Tom made horcruxes."

James blinked, then blinked again before slowly nodding his head. "Alright. I'm listening."

"Horcruxes are soul pieces." Grace started before James abruptly stood up and started pacing before bursting out in mad laughter.

"He tore his soul apart, didn't he? That mad bastard."

"You know about horcruxes?" She asked, fear rising as she looked at him.

"No. _No_." He said again as he looked at the expression on her face. "But I'm a damned good guesser. How many times, Grace?"

"You think he did it more than once?"

"I know what magic can do to a body, to a mind, when it's abused to its limits. This isn't the first time a wizard decided he was more important than everyone else."

"As far as I can tell at least five. Or that's what Dumbledore figures. We've been going through memories to see how exactly he decided what objects to use."

"Five? Five. There's no reason for five." James mumbled thoughtfully. "Six, perhaps, but seven or nine would be better."

"You don't seem surprised by the number, by what he did." She asked without asking.

"I've been born into a Pureblood family that was closely related to House Black, one of the darkest families around. I've seen and heard things that I hadn't thought possible. Sirius even gave me a book once on how to properly make sure to torture your enemies well and good."

"That sounds like an...interesting gift." She hedged carefully.

He snorted in amusement. "It wasn't a gift, he wanted to show me how 'dark' his family really was and why he wanted out. He was too soft for the likes of House Black."

Grace frowned at that. "If House Black was such a dark family, how were they so accepted by the rest of the Purebloods?"

James chuckled at her. "Dark means next to nothing to us. Power, on the other hand, is something we all understand."

"And House Black was powerful?"

James made a so-so gesture. "Some where, some weren't. They were clever and they maintained their connections well."

"Oh. That kind of powerful."

"Don't misunderstand me, they were magically gifted as well, it simply wasn't the only way they were powerful. Back to Tom Riddle."

"There's not a whole lot I can really say." Grace hedged quietly. "Most of the things I've seen are about how he grew up."

"Meaning?"

"He grew up in an orphanage. His father was a muggle and his mother was a witch. Gaunt, I think her last name was. She lived with her brother and her father in a small, old run down little house."

"Gaunt?" James asked, perking up. "House Gaunt? Well that explains a lot."

She blinked in surprise, having not expected that. "It does?"

"House Gaunt is one of the oldest lines. They can trace their ancestry back to Slytherin himself."

"Like I can with Gryffindor?"

"In a similar way. You have diluted blood of the line, enough to call yourself family but not technically pure. Gaunt, on the other hand, is less diluted and more filled with direct decedents. They inbred like crazy to keep their line pure. Probably part of what caused the last of them to live the way they did and have the amount of magic they did."

"You think it's important, these Gaunt's?"

"Of course. Voldemort prides himself on the fact that he can speak to snakes. It's one of the gifts of House Slytherin. No other line has this ability."

"But I do." Grace objected.

James blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

"I do."

"Do?"

"Speak to snakes."

James gawked at her. "Since when?" He demanded.

"Always?” She said with a shrug. “I don't know. I don't even know I'm doing it, really."

"That's...not a good sign." He sighed, running a hand down his face.

"That's what they said in second year too."

"Some day I will ask, but that won't be today. Back to Voldemort, if he showed his peers this talent and proclaimed himself an Heir, then the Houses would have naturally aligned themselves behind him. Especially those in Slytherin because they would feel either some sort of loyalty or simply for the novelty."

"That sounds stupid."

"No one said wizards thought linear, darling."

"So that's how he built his power base? On a House name?"

"On _the_ House name. Don't forget the amount of power you now wield because of your name. People will follow you simply because you are House Gryffindor and in Gryffindor house. Not to mention that you are the Girl-Who-Lived and the emblem of hope in these dark times."

Grace looked horrified. "But I don't want any of that!"

"You don't, but Voldemort did. Imagine what you could accomplish, what havoc you could wreck?"

Grace winced. "That's terrifying."

"That's Voldemort." He pointed out.

"So what are you saying? That to be able to beat him I take all of that away from him?"

"Can you kill him when the man has a horcrux?" Grace shook her head. "Then it's a moot point. You want to gather an army, you want to instil hope. Perhaps make people fight for their lives instead of waiting for Aurors to show up."

"I don't want to become a murderer." She confessed softly.

"Who said you had to." He demanded sharply.

"You know about the prophecy?"

James nodded. "One of the reasons we went into hiding with you."

"So you remember it? Remember how it said 'neither can live while the other survives'?"

"Prophecies." James sneered in disgust. "Meddlesome things. We'll figure something out Grace."

"We don't have a lot of time. James, people are dying." She said imploringly, hoping he would understand how important this was. With or without the prophecy, Voldemort had declared _her_ his worst enemy. As long as she lived, she would always be a symbol of resistance.

"We have enough time not to rush into this blindly.” He said soothingly. “You are a soldier that now has to think like a general. Think of the bigger picture. We cannot defeat him while he still has horcruxes around."

"Maybe not but we can still kill him now and have more time to sever his links."

"And what guarantee do we have that he won't come back as something worse, something far more evil? He lost his humanity along with his sanity. Moreover, who is to say that it would even work? Do we know a permanent method to make sure each piece stays dead?"

"I figured a good old Avada would be enough." She said with a grimace, knowing that hoping something worked out never did her much good in the long run.

"And if it isn't?” James pressed. “If I recall correctly, it didn't do much for you."

"I was a baby!" She objected.

"Who survived the impossible. He made you the worst target possible by making you the epitome of impossible. Your very existence defies our basic understanding of life and death magic."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Grace said softly, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. She didn't do anything. A child wasn't capable of doing magic like that. Maybe...maybe where James had jumped time, her mother had decided to save her? But wouldn't that mean that James chose himself? Unless this was something planned between them, but like all things, this wasn't something that Grace had any intention of knowing. Some things where better off as thoughts.

"We have time." James stated gently as he pulled her into his embrace. "How about we just enjoy the holidays and worry about everything outside of these walls after that?"

"That sounds like the best thing I've ever heard. Is New Years something wizards do?"

"An excuse to drink and be festive? Of course!"

Grace laughed lightly, snuggling into James as she shook her head. "I should have known."

\---******---

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There were fires everywhere, houses set alight with every step she took. Screams of terror rendered through the air, sobs of despair, screams of pain, agony of death. It was music, divine music she had missed so much over the years. Power that strummed through her veins as she laughed in glee at the scenes in front of her. Her most loyal dragging men and women out of their beds, raping the women while their husbands watched on helpless, some tortured, some made to help hold them down. Children being ripped limb from limb as mothers watched. Babes drowned like the rats they were. The chaos was glorious.

Ah, but the smell of burnt flesh, blood, and helplessness in the air was beyond imagination. These _things_ deserved nothing less than death, deserved nothing less than being ripped from the world like the insects they were.

She stood still as she watched the neighbourhood burn to the ground, one house at a time. Watched with glee how her followers gorge themselves on flesh and blood. Watched with satisfaction as the fear and despair grew with each passing moment.

This was the first time she had allowed the werewolves and the vampires to join her and the wolves were proving to be a perfect fit. They rended and feasted, hunted their pray and played with those that thought they could get away. It was a beautiful sight.

The vampires on the other hand. She should have foreseen it but it hadn’t occurred to her how quietly they killed. Their venom was potent and their beliefs rarely had them wasting a drop of blood. It was…too clean for her liking. She wanted the terror, the horror, the gore that came with showing these useless flesh packets where they belonged. Even an Avada Kedavra was too good for them.

This was a fun exercise, but it was only the first step. The time had come to make a move. The _ultimate_ move. It was time to cement her reign. This would only be the beginning, the glorious start to her new empire. They would bend for her, beg for her, prostrate themselves for her.

"Ah, Mr. Forrester." She hissed smoothly as two of her men brought a struggling pathetic figure towards her. "Are you enjoying the festivities?"

"You-you-" The man objected despite his obvious terror.

"Now now, let's not say anything you would regret." She warned, eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'm sure you must be wondering why I had you brought here. Worry not, you are here as my latest initiate." The man turned a shade paler than he already was, something that fascinated her on a personal level because every time this happened, people always seemed to lose more and more colour, no matter how pale they were to being with.

"You-initiate?" Came the pathetically trembling reply.

She held in the urge to curse the man since her plans would be much easier with him involved instead of whoever his successor would be. Perhaps the imperious would be easier after all.

"There is something I need you to do for me."

"Me?" The man squeaked. "I-I-I'm not-"

"Of course, I had foreseen you would need a little incentive. This is your wife, is it not?" The man gasped, a different kind of fear in his eyes as he saw his very pregnant wife in the hands of another pair of her Death Eaters. "Don't worry so much, I'll take good care of her. As long as you do as you are told." She added on mildly, a dangerous smile on her face as victory swam through her veins. It was almost too easy.

"I'll do it.” The man stated as he looked at his petrified wife. “Anything. I will. I'll help."

They were so predictable, so _mouldable_ it was almost a bore to play with them like this. She eyed the captive wife and smirked at how much fun it would be to tear the whelp out of her stomach. They could always try for another, if she was careful not to damage the witch too much.

One step closer.

-*-

Grace woke on a gasp, her heart pounding and tears streaming down her face even as the images faded quickly from her mind. The horror stayed. The blood stayed.

Her days of safety were numbered.

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\---******---

Grace muttered obscenities under her breath as she let her house-elves flutter around her and help get her ready for the wedding. She had been in two minds about whether or not she wanted to go seeing as a part of her wasn't sure she really agreed with the whole thing. It was one thing to hear and talk about, but quite another to be a part of. It was three days after Christmas and her little bubble of peace and happiness was about to be burst and she wasn't sure she was really ready for that yet.

Thankfully she had Hermione, who was actually looking forward to the wedding, to calm her nerves. So now she was getting dressed in dress robes, something her house-elves had gotten for her (pestered her to do more like, even complained to her about the latest fashion trends before she had had enough and just told them to go all out) since she hated shopping more than anything and would do her damndest to get out of it any chance she could. Which she did, because house-elves were amazing and James was more than helpful in getting her to pick out the ‘right’ things. The only part of this whole mess she was looking forward to was the chance to publically go out with James.

In no time at all, James was calling her down and floo-ing with her to the Krum’s temporary abode before floo-ing out again to the Parkinson mansion where the wedding was taking place.

"Morgana's wavy hair, this place is amazing!" Grace whispered to Hermione, both of them looking around the entrance hall as they waited in line with their invitations.

"Purebloods darling," James said lowly, "they spare no expense."

"Especially not when his daughter has been caught in the scandal that Parkinson has." Hermione added with a sly grin.

"Why didn't Malfoy's father do the same with him then?" Grace wondered idly.

"From what I hear, mostly because Parkinson was being such a bitch.” Hermione said softly, eyeing the people around them. “Malfoy just accepted his mistakes and dropped the contract, then accepted his punishment and told his father he'd agree to whatever contract his father brought him."

Grace chuckled lightly. "So he basically got lucky?"

"Not likely." Hermione said as she looked over the line again.

"He did not. His image has been tarnished, but his standing has not been diminished because of how he has handled himself." James told her. "Added to that, his new contract is with a very acceptable House and his future bride is liked by the majority of society, despite her young age."

"How do either of you know this?" Grace asked, slightly amazed.

"We pay attention to gossip, darling." James stated with a laugh as he lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist.

"Invitations please." A hard looking man stated as he looked at the four of them suspiciously. Both James and Krum handed over their invitations (which were closely scrutinized by both eye and magic) before being ushered into the manor with a quick tilting of the head. "Enjoy the festivities." He growled out as a house-elf appeared in front of them and asked them to follow along.

"Do you think they're here to keep out the 'rabble' or to keep Parkinson in?" Hermione asked her in a hushed whisper before they locked eyes and tried to hold in their giggles as best they could. "Best. Day. Ever!"

Grace shook her head in mock despair as she let James move her further into the house. They were lead to an area where the rest of the wedding guests had assembled. Light snacks and drinks were being brought around by other house-elves and Grace clearly saw a pained look in Hermione's eyes before Krum managed to distract her.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor." A rough voice announced from her right side.

She felt James tense beside her even as she looked over to see who it was. "Lord Tripe." Grace answered with a genuine welcoming smile. "That's two places now where I didn't expect you to be."

The attorney smiled at her teasing as he gently guided the woman next to him closer to her and James. "I do like to keep you on your toes. May I introduce you to my wife, Lady Isabelle Tripe, and my children, Heir Robert, Alexander, and Elise."

Grace inclined her head and smiled at them. "Pleased to meet you. May I introduce my companion, Lord James Potter."

"Ah!" Lord Tripe stated with a certain amount of glee. "The very man himself! I missed meeting you at the last Wizengamot I'm afraid."

"It was certainly a busy one." James stated affably now that he was certain there was no danger.

Lady Tripe smiled at them both. "Russell wouldn't stop complaining about it. Hardly ever goes these days. Says it's a waste of time."

"Which it is." Lord Tripe and all of his children chimed in simultaneously.

Grace giggled at their exasperated looks. "An old argument then?"

"Oh very." Lady Tripe said with a serious nod and a happy gleam in her eyes. "Russell also tells me that you're the youngest member on the Wizengamot." She continued as Lord Tripe asked James something Grace hadn't heard.

"Oh no, that's not legal. I can only officially join once I've graduated from Hogwarts. I am currently only learning the ropes."

"Quite the achievement." Lady Tripe praised. "My own children found it such a bore when they had to go. Robert is dreading the day he has to take over. Says he'll be sure to fall asleep so it might be good for something."

Grace laughed with Lady Tripe. "Well, I'm sure I can keep him entertained. It's no secret that I have the worst sort of luck."

Lady Tripe's eyes darted to her scar, her eyes turned soft and sad even as she held on to her smile. "Sometimes, no matter how much we would wish otherwise, fate has her own plans for us."

Grace was about to protest that Voldemort was no type of fate when a musical chime started and the air above them suddenly glowed with tiny white sparkles.

"Lovely to meet you all." James said with a nod as he took Grace's hand and placed it back into the crook of his arm.

"What was that?" Grace whispered as James guided her to the outside venue.

"That was the signal to take our seats as the wedding is about to start."

"That was quick.” She mused with baffled amusement. “Are we supposed to be sat this close to the front?" Grace asked James softly as he guided her to her seat quite near the front.

"Yes, it's a good sign actually. House Parkinson is not only recognising your station but is simultaneously telling everyone else that they acknowledge you and accept your standing."

"How lovely of them." She snarked.

"If you had not shown up it would have been a completely different story."

Grace turned to him while a smile and laughter in her eyes. "As if I would have been allowed to miss this." Grace looked on amused as Hermione sat down next to her and subtly looked around them with glee in her eyes. "Hang on," she mumbled before turning back to James, "if this is an acknowledgement of me and my station, how come Hermione is sitting next to us?"

James raised an eyebrow. "Most likely because Parkinson found out who sent him the note."

Grace felt her eyes grow bigger. "He found out? Is she in danger?"

"Nothing of the sort darling. If she was still a muggleborn then she would have been bought off, but seeing as she's part of a House, Parkinson has probably interpreted this as a measure of good faith."

"Didn't do his homework did he?"

"Inter House relations work differently. She stopped House Parkinson and House Malfoy from a scandal. Malfoy will refuse to acknowledge the whole thing, but Parkinson likes to repay debts. He likely knows of her feelings towards his daughter and figured this was compensation enough. And really, would you disagree?"

"Not even a little. How do you suppose he found out?"

"Unless you are very discreet, there is little that cannot be found out."

"Erm."

"It probably didn't take him very long to trace the owl back to Hogwarts. Depending on what the note said or how it was composed, he probably checked it for magic and then went about trying to match it to the sender."

"Isn't that illegal? Especially while we're still in school and underage?"

"Nothing is illegal when there is a direct threat made to a House."

Their conversation was stopped as the music started. Grace didn't retain a whole lot about the wedding etiquette James drilled into her head besides getting a gift, dressing appropriately and being on time, but she knew that music starting meant that the wedding was starting. As the patio doors opened James lightly touched her elbow and guided her to a standing position as the bride and her father stepped out into the winter sunlight.

Despite disliking Parkinson a lot, Grace had to admit that she looked absolutely beautiful. The main garment of her dress was white but the overlays and fabric around her was full of vibrant colours. She kind of thought is was a mixture between an Indian wedding and a British one where they simply couldn't decide which to choose.

"The white dress underneath is a symbol of her purity." James explained softly in her ear. "Not of virginity, just that both parties are going into this marriage pure of heart. If you look at the groom later, you'll see he is wearing something quite similar. The colours around her are the colours of her House and that of her future House."

Grace made a noise of interested as father and daughter started to make their way down the isle. There was a slight sounds that had Grace tilting her head in confusion before a loud wail started and ended with the loudest sobbing Grace had ever heard.

"Is she crying?" Grace muttered astounded.

"This is very embarrassing." James muttered back as he winced.

With every step they took, the wailing and sobbing got louder and louder, to the point that Parkinson actually signalled the orchestra to play louder to drown out his daughter's sobbing.

Grace grimaced at the scene. "I'm starting to feel bad for her." She mumbled to Hermione as they watched the sad procession.

"Why? Because she's making a scene?"

"I mean, does she really deserve this? All for having sex with the person she was Courting? It seems a little...extreme."

Hermione sighed softly. "Does she deserve it for being a teenager and discovering her own body? No. Her father's reaction is, well, it's decades behind the times and sexist as heck, but that was never the reason I did it and it's not the reason I'm going to enjoy this."

"This is the rest of her life." Grace objected.

"Hardly. It's just until her husband kicks the bucket."

"Yes, and until that time she's going to have to have sex with him, start a family with him. It's not exactly right, is it?"

"Are you defending her right now?"

"Yes! You have you're own reasons for doing what you did, but this? This is insane Hermione. Which one of us wouldn't be weeping down the isle if this happened to us? I, for one, would have run away."

"Grace." Hermione stated, trying her level best to keep her tone from betraying how angry she was getting. "I know this is hard for you, I get it, I really do. But that bitch has been bullying me for being me since Draco Malfoy first set his sights on you and nobody did a thing to stop it. If me finally getting back at the person who did their best to make my life miserable is causing you to have some sort of feeling, keep it away from me."

"Hermione." Grace said weakly.

"No. I'm finally standing up for myself and suddenly I'm the bad guy because I'm letting her get her come-uppence? Nobody stopped her until I made her stop and I refuse to feel guilty for enjoying every second of it."

"Moyat maluk snitch is everything ok?" Krum asked in concern as his eyes darted from Hermione to Grace and back again.

Hermione looked at Grace. "Is it?"

Grace nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, we're all good here." She said, despite the music steadily getting louder and louder to try and drown out the bride's impressive cries of distress.

"There's nothing you could have done." James whispered softly in her ear.

"This is barbaric." Grace whispered back as she watched father and daughter finally reach the groom. "I understand why Hermione feels the way she does, but this is too much."

"Darling, this is the Pureblood way of life. The reason no one else is stepping in is because it's more than accepted." James said as the music finally stopped and the guests all breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"But she's being punished for having sex!" Grace objected, sitting down with the rest of the guests to try and listen to the proceedings.

"No, she's not. She's being punished because she refused to adhere to the terms set by her Head of House."

"And that's different how?"

"Malfoy junior was in the same position, if you recall." Grace nodded as she watched the Wizarding equivalent of a priest stand up and cleared his throat. "And yet he's not in the same position is he?"

"I assumed that was because he was male."

"In a way, perhaps, but they were both bound by the same Contract and in any other situation their punishments would have been equal."

"But they're not."

"They are not because junior accepted the terms set by his Head of House. He took responsibility for his actions and distanced himself from Parkinson. He accepted a chastity spell and went through the rounds of social disgrace to show that he understood how badly he behaved."

"Parkinson?" Grace asked, wincing as the priest started and Parkinson loudly resumed her wailing. It made the priest stop and start between her sobs, knowing he would never be heard over her distress.

"Rebelled. Refused to give up her contract and made a fool of her father and her House. She blamed everyone but herself for her actions and put a black mark on her House. No one wanted to have any sort of relation to House Parkinson and it was killing his business."

"That doesn't make it right."

"It doesn't, but everything you see here is a direct result of her own actions. If she had simply accepted her guilt as Malfoy junior had, we wouldn't be here."

"So that man?" Grace asked with a nod towards the groom.

Honestly, the man had nerves of steel since he hadn't so much as flinched the entire time Parkinson wailed like a banshee. Even the priest was starting to loose his patience and kept glaring at her when she started up again.

"Is the salvation of House Parkinson. He gets a young bride who is capable of giving him Heirs and her father reclaims what he lost as a cause of her behaviour."

"Why, though? It's not like anyone won't remember what she did, so how would this wedding make it all alright?"

"When they bond, she will officially be a Deveraux and therefore no longer a part of House Parkinson."

"And that magically erases her history?"

"No, but it means anything she says or does no longer reflects on House Parkinson."

"He's safe now." Grace said with sudden understanding. "Doing business with him before was a liability but now she's no longer a part of his House, they're all in the clear."

"Correct." James nodded.

"That's horrible." Grace sighed softly then promptly grimaced when it became obvious that the priest was tired of competing with the bride’s sobs and started trying to loudly speak over her distressed noises, which only made Parkinson be louder.

"That's business." James replied with a small shrug.

"Why would Deveraux take her on though? It can't just be because he needs an Heir, can it? There's no way he hasn't heard how she was acting. Purebloods are the worst gossips."

James chuckled. "The European Purebloods are of a different breed than the English ones. Deveraux had been accused of murder twenty years ago."

"Murder!" Grace choked out in shock as she turned round eyes to James.

"His wife. I'm not quite sure of the particulars since it's been so long, but it made him ineligible despite being one of the most coveted Houses in France. The amount of power and prestige he still has only goes to show how powerful his House is."

"So he really does just need an Heir." She said in an astonished tone as she looked back to the proceedings.

The priest, having given up on talking over her, was now rushing through his speech. The bindings were done as rapidly as he could speak and before anyone had blinked, Deveraux had turned and, with his brides bound hand in his, raised their hands in a sort of victory.

"Seems that way." James said as they stood up and politely clapped as the new husband and wife strode up the isle.

"You don't believe that?" Grace asked as she watched a rather docile Parkinson now Deveraux trail slightly behind her new husband.

"Purebloods never do anything for the obvious reasons darling. I have no doubt both Houses are getting something more out of this than the public will ever know."

"I still feel bad for her."

"And you should, but you should also know that her own behaviour will be the only thing that will either break her or save her."

"So she can either continue being horrible about all of this and be miserable or accept it and try for some kind of normal."

"Essentially."

"Those choices still suck."

"I understand you hate this." James said gently, taking her hand in his and squeezing gently as he guided her out of the isle they were sitting in. "You must understand that you are looking at her life from your perspective."

"Meaning what?" Grace asked as she watched Hermione and Krum disappear into the crowd.

"Meaning that your history would have you rebel against all of this simply because of how you were raised. Parkinson, on the other hand, knew full well what would happen with her behaviour, she grew up as a Pureblood and understands the intricacy of it. She knew what her actions would cause and did it anyway."

"So when you say that she brought it on herself, you mean she knew this would be the outcome?"

James hummed in thought. "I doubt this exact scenario was the ending she was hoping for, but she would have known it was one of the options open to her."

"So I find it cruel and unusual because I would have never accepted it with my world view, but Parkinson, with her world view, understood completely what would happen." Grace summarized slowly as they made their way towards the reception area.

"Yes. Don't forget that Pureblood females are often times used to being spoiled and given whatever they want, so Parkinson probably counted on her temper tantrums to turn the tide in her favour."

"But it didn't."

"And that probably has more to do with how it affected her father's business ventures than anything else. I daresay that if it hadn't affected anything other than her family members, this outcome would never have happened."

"Can I just say that I'm glad I'm the Head of my House."

James snorted before looking at her with such fondness that she couldn't help but smile back at him. Grace turned when she felt someone slip by her and caught Draco Malfoy's eye, who was a few meters away and looking like he wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Both of them shared a look born out of awkwardness and being supremely uncomfortable before Grace was distracted by James putting his hand on her arm and guiding her indoors.

"Darling? Shall we?" He asked as he gestured towards the bar area.

"I'm not sure how long I can keep this up." Grace warned him even as she took his arm and let herself be manoeuvred around the people who had the same idea. It seemed this was a wedding where drinking was more a necessity than frivolity.

"It won't be for very much longer. Festivities that centre around matches like these are generally shorter than most."

"Most being..." She trailed off.

"Depending on the House and the wealth involved, I would say days." James said as he handed Grace a flute of champagne.

"Days?!" Grace gasped as she took her glass. "That's a thing? How do people even last that long?"

He laughed at her shock. "Again, that changes per House, but some go home and come back and others have rooms made up for their guests when they need a break."

"So this wedding?"

"Will most likely only consist of today. Considering the bride's actions and her rather colourful hysterics during the ceremony, they have in all likelihood already decided to keep the festivities as short as possible without it being a scandal or insulting to their guests."

"How would it insult the guests?"

"Think how much time you spent getting ready. Think about the amount of money you needed to spend on your dress. If you were a Pureblood woman, you would have also gotten your hair professionally

done, your nails, your-" James waved his hand to indicate her face, "face."

"Make-up?" She asked on a laugh.

"Yes. All of that would take time and money. A presentation of sorts. Now, imagine you spent at least a good four hours getting ready and then you went to this wedding only for it to be over within the hour."

"Seems like a lot of wasted time."

"Exactly."

"Which I'm guessing is the insulting part."

"One of many."

"Of course there's more than one reason. Purebloods." Grace huffed as James merely chuckled.

"Yes, we're a terrible lot. Whatever will you do with the one you have?" He teased as he put a hand on her lower back and guided her away from the crowd around the bar.

She burst into surprised laughter. "That depends. Are there any limits to that question?"

"Limits? I'd rather like to suggest you use my any way you'd like to." He said as his eyebrows jumped suggestively. "But," he sighed loudly and theatrically, "I must commit myself to staying pure for my future wife."

"Pure my arse." She huffed in amusement as she poked him in the side.

"Are you questioning my loyalty?" James gasped in mock outrage.

"Not your loyalty." Grace said blithely as she gave his family jewels a significant look.

"You little minx." He stated with a mixture of pride and amusement.

"Lord Black-Gryffindor!" A man called out, breaking Grace and James out of their moment and back into the ballroom full of guests and observers.

Lord Joshua Max smiled at her in such a way that Grace felt the only suitable response was to smile back despite only wanting to frown at the man enough to make him go away again.

"Lord Max, this is a surprise." And it was since they had only met once and he hadn't seemed all that impressed with her at the time.

"It is the wedding of the season." He declared jovially.

"It's the last wedding of the season." James pointed out blandly before manoeuvring himself slightly in front of Grace and watching the other man with badly hidden suspicion, forcing Grace to blink at Lord Max innocently even as his eyes flicked between the two of them with a hint of wariness.

"Of course." The man nodded slowly but with no less happiness.

"I didn't realize you were acquainted with Lord Parkinson." Grace said politely, hoping to bypass the round of silent smiling.

"Business partners, actually. Not well known, as you may have interred, since this whole business began."

"No, naturally." Grace nodded when it became apparent that James wouldn’t say anything.

"Being here is quite the opportunity though." Lord Max continued. "Why, I would wager anyone who is anyone has come out today."

James narrowed his eyes. "Who did you say you were?"

"Lord Joshua Max." Lord Max stated promptly with pride.

James hummed. "No, before that."

Lord Max bristled. "Is that important?"

"Just an inquiry. I hadn't realized I was stepping on any toes."

"Not in the least! I merely-which isn't any sort of problem-I'm quite private you see." Lord Max spluttered, turning a shade darker with every passing second. "Is that Alexander I see? Must see him about a conversation we had previously. Excuse me."

"Of course." James said as he inclined his head. Lord Max barely waited long enough to incline his own head before turning around and walking away from them.

"Huh." Grace stated as they watched him go. "Was it something you said?"

"I should very much hope so since that was exactly what I intended to do." James said darkly.

"Any particular reason for that?"

"He was being obvious about his intentions to mingle. It was positively garish."

She hummed in thought. "And that's a bad thing?"

"No, these social functions are usually used as a way to make deals and make connections."

"Which is what he was hoping to do." She pointed out.

"He was, yes. Probably still will, despite my warning." James said with a derisive snort.

Grace blinked in surprise. "That was a warning?"

"If he intends to be so crude about his intentions, then yes."

"I'm so confused. If the whole purpose of these gatherings is to make connections and business deals, then why was it so wrong for him to attempt it?"

James nodded. "A Pureblood would never outright voice his intentions. It's too...obvious. It also shows everyone here that not only is Lord Max quite new to his position, but that he's also primed for the taking.

"Taking?"

"Manipulation.” He clarified. “He'll learn as the years get on, naturally, but for the moment any sort of connection to the man is a lost cause."

"Because someone else will be using him?"

"Because his blind trust will make him vulnerable and anyone with a title cannot afford that kind of naivety."

"I doubt he was naive.” Grace objected as she thought back on his behaviour. “Enthusiastic, maybe, but naive was not one of the words that came to mind."

James hummed as he watched Grace carefully. "Perhaps not to you, but to someone used to the intricacy of Pureblood life, it's clear as day that he has not grown up amongst us."

"As apposed to what? The European elite?"

He quirked his eyebrow as a smile lit up his face. "Elite? Quite the lofty position. It's a way of life darling, a way of speaking and behaving that is difficult to learn unless ingrained from birth." James took in her frown and slipped behind her, holding her hip as he directed her body towards Lord Max and the man he was currently speaking with. "See them?" He asked, a whisper in her ear. "See the way Lord Fawley has kept his wife one step behind him? The way his right hand is lingering in the exact place his wand is holstered? Now look at Max, see the way he's gesturing with both hands, his wand hand no where near his wand."

"So it's just that he's open to attack?" Grace whispered as she leaned her head back slightly without looking away from the scene in front of her.

"No, it's the way he's not even seen that Lord Fawley is considering him a possible threat, the way he's protecting his wife, and the way he's being snubbed by Lady Fawley's blatant disinterest in the conversation."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"He has been ignoring the wives at every social gathering he has attended since gaining his title. One can accept the horrendous manners as that can be taught, eventually, but women are more than their positions in life."

"So he's ignored a threat he's never considered and that makes him vulnerable."

"It makes him ignorant and ignorance leads down dangerous paths." James corrected.

"But this can't happen every time someone takes up a House."

"It doesn't. Usually one of the greater Houses will take them under their wing and teach them what they need to know."

"For a price." Grace guessed.

"There's always a price, darling."

"But that hasn't happened for him."

"And I doubt it will, not until he realizes how far he's fallen."

"To teach him a lesson. What would happen if I went over there and told him all this?"

James looked amused. "What do you think would happen? Do you suppose he would listen to a sixteen year old girl, title or not, that he was a blundering fool despite the fact that he's got a prominent seat on the Wizengamot and a prestigious House of his own?"

"Probably not." She admitted. With a small huff, she turned to look at the rest of the assembly and noted with a small amount of surprise that she was starting to recognise many of the faces around her. Lord Eastwick and Lord Randle were across the dance floor, both accompanied by two very nicely dressed women who she could only guess were their wives. She only recognised Lord Turpin because Lisa was stood next to her father. Not to mention how much her sister looked like her and how they both heavily favoured their mother in looks.

"What are you thinking darling?"

"That if I had to dress up for this ridiculous thing then I should probably also get at least one dance out of it. Is that appropriate?"

James cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Is this because they know of my miraculous revival or because they don't know that you are not my daughter and that we are in a contract?"

A couple walking by them snapped their heads towards them and she felt the murmur of conversation suddenly drop around them before being quickly picked up again.

"Smooth." She said on a frown. "Was that always your plan or do you just like throwing me to the wolves?"

James turned her to face him and stroked his thumb across her cheek. "It wouldn't have been much longer." At her questioning look, he cupped her cheek and urged her to focus on him. "Snape already knows and most of the Order was there when things between the two of you..."

"Blew up?" She supplied helpfully.

He chuckled at her words. "A couple of those people are part of prominent Houses, and you know how gossip works amongst us Purebloods."

Grace nodded, a hint of sadness creeping into her eyes. "I just wish it would have been my choice."

"Which is why I never said otherwise." James told her gently as he took her hand and tucked it into the crook of his arm. "Now that the secret is out, it's best to out it in a manner that leaves us with our wands in our hands."

"What?"

"I mean telling people in a way that leaves us having some semblance of power."

"Not much power if we were forced to reveal it in the first place." She grumbled before someone interrupted them.

"Lord Potter." Lucius nodded as he looked down his nose at Grace before turning back to James. "A word."

James rolled his eyes and huffed, making it seem like extreme effort to even comply. Grace held in a smile as Lucius visibly clenched his teeth. "Lord Malfoy. There, you've had two."

"Grace!" A voice squealed out in joy, causing her to turn around to see who called her.

"Lisa." Grace said with a smile. She turned back to James and patted him on his arm before untangling herself and joining Lisa and her sister. Malfoy junior awkwardly sidled up to their little group and nodded to each of the girls but otherwise said nothing.

"What a wedding!" Lisa's sister Anne stated joyfully.

"I know. Who would have thought?" Lisa added, nodding enough that Grace feared for her neck. "And did you see that both Eastchurch and Randle are here?"

"Erm, maybe?" Grace hedged after a quick look to Malfoy who seemed content to ignore them all despite standing with them. "There are a lot of people here."

"Oh, you haven't heard!" Lisa said with a degree of delight that would put Lavender to shame. "They sued the Munslow's for breach of contract!"

Grace frowned as she suddenly recalled Ginny getting a letter about them, something to do with a testimony is she remembered right. "What happened exactly?"

"They had to prove the broken contract of course, but I'm thinking they're trying to set up a bad faith precedence." Anne said, ignoring Grace's question. Malfoy snorted and he tucked his hands into his robe pockets as he looked quickly away when Grace looked at him.

"Because that's what you do apparently." Grace said with a sigh and a nod of understanding as she turned back to the two sisters..

Anne looked at Grace worriedly. "Well they have to don't they?"

"He made both their Houses look like complete fools." Lisa stated. "I'd wouldn't be surprised if it escaladed to a blood feud!"

"Now now ladies, what's this?" Mr. Hitchens said in a mild rebuke as he walked up to their group. Both Lisa and Anne turned a light shade of pink at the warning and looked to the floor in some sort of contrition as Malfoy sighed deeply.

Grace tried her best not to roll her eyes. "Mr. Hitchens, lovely to see you. May I introduce Lisa Turpin, her sister Heir Anne Turpin, and Heir Draco Malfoy."

"A pleasure. If I may pull you away for a few moments?" Mr. Hitchens asked, turning his body towards Grace and gesturing for her to move over a few paces.

Grace nodded before following him and giving him a questioning look. "Something on your mind?"

"I just wanted to inform you of a slight change after the last meeting we had. I am officially now Lord Hitchens." Mr. Hitchens declared, a wary but determined look on his face.

"How is that a change if that's what agreed to?" Grace frowned in thought as she tilted her head. "But that's not the House I gave you, was it?"

Mr. Hitchens, Lord Hitchens, smiled slyly at her. "I have fixed that minor mishap in future clauses, but you may have forgotten to specify that upon agreement to taking the House one must keep the name of said House after the legalities of turning over said House."

"You sly old man." Grace said with a growing smile of admiration. "I think I'm pleased you're on my side despite the fact that you just outmanoeuvred me."

"I'm glad you're not angry at me my dear." Lord Hitchens said with a tone too honest and grave for Grace to ignore.

"I wanted to get rid of them." Grace reminded him, gently touching his arm before pulling back. "I also understand how much resistance you met and how much value you have put into your own name."

"You aren't upset that I have deceived you?" Lord Hitchens asked, sharp eyes roaming over her features as if he was looking for a lie.

Grace took her time to answer him. "I suppose I would be vexed if I had any sort of investment in this project. Mostly though, I just want it over and done with. The basis still stands and if I can be honest with you,"

"You may, of course."

"Then I can only hope this foster more goodwill between our two Houses. I'd rather see you on my side than against me."

"I suppose I will have to introduce you to my children then." Lord Hitchens said with a put upon sigh even as his shoulders relaxed in relief. "They are around here somewhere, no doubt indulging in the festivities."

"Is that a note of disapproval I hear?" Grace joked, knowing from James how much wizards liked their festivities.

"Naturally! They're in their forties and still cannot handle their alcohol." He tsked playfully. "What ever will I do with them?"

"Force them to attend a Wizengamot meeting as punishment. I hear it's quite the punishment." Grace said with a laugh, Lord Hitchens joining in and shaking his head.

"You've seen Russell then have you? And his children?"

"I did. I liked them, what little I did get to see at least."

Lord Hitchens nodded in agreement. "They're good people with their father's good sense." Both of their attention was caught as Lord Hitchens was called away. He bowed formally to Grace before leaving her. Grace turned back to Lisa and her sister only to notice that they had left her for greener gossip. Malfoy, on the other hand, had stayed behind and was now trying not to look at her while clearly hoping she would stay. Darting a quick look around the room and seeing no one better, she stayed put. That and James and Malfoy senior looked to be in quite the intense discussion and she didn’t feel like getting in the middle of it.

"So." Grace said, feeling rather uncomfortable at the silence between them. "Lovely... decorations." She settled on, wincing as she finished.

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "You can have a conversation with me about Pansy. I won't burst into flames."

"I might." Grace muttered, not sure she even wanted to go there.. "Why are you here anyway? Isn't this all very..."

"Awkward?" He huffed out, amused.

"That word has been used far too often recently."

"It's a polite way of saying how fucked this all is." Malfoy stated blandly and surprising Grace into a huff of laughter.

"So why did you come? It's not exactly something I would have ever thought you'd come to, given how things played out between the two of you."

Malfoy nodded as he grabbed two champagne flutes from a passing house-elf. He passed one off to her and then took a sip of his glass. "If it was up to me, I wouldn't have come."

"So it wasn't up to you?" She deduced as she took a sip herself.

"It's never up to me. In the future I'll have to go despite my personal feelings because I will be the Head of my House."

"Obligation over personal wants, is that it?"

"That's the Pureblood life." Malfoy stated as he lifted his flute in a salute.

"So you came because you had to."

"I came because I wanted to make sure Pansy got married."

Grace blinked a few times as she digested that. "That's...that's really terrible actually."

"I'm also escorting someone."

"The person you're Courting."

"Astoria Greengrass." Malfoy said with a nod.

"Hang on, isn't there a Daphne Greengrass in our year?" Grace asked.

"Yes, in Slytherin." Malfoy glanced at her face and snorted. "Just ask."

"Younger or older?"

"Her younger sister, by two years."

"So her sister didn't want you or she's already in a contract of her own?"

"Both, as it happens. Daphne doesn't like me, but she'll tolerate me for her sister's sake. Threatened to cut my balls of the muggle way if I thought of doing anything out of the terms of our contract."

"Brave girl."

Malfoy nodded in agreement. "Especially considering House Malfoy has a considerable amount of power over the Greengrasses."

"Is that why they accepted?"

"No. They accepted because it turns out Astoria has quite the thing for me."

"And you don't."

Malfoy shrugged. "I never noticed her before. I was in a contract, if you recall."

Grace snorted. "Like that ever matters."

"It does to us." Malfoy said quietly. "I know all of this is new to you, and I know you're trying, but our traditions and our values mean something to us. They are the foundations of our world so when we give our words, we mean it."

"How does that explain what happened between you and Parkinson?" Grace asked instead, feeling a little uncomfortable with Malfoy's honesty.

Malfoy sighed and looked into his half empty glass. "It's not unusual for parties in a Courting contract to engage in physical desires if there were no specifications of the sort outlined in the contract."

"So if it's not stated it's alright to do it?"

Malfoy chuckled at the double meaning as Grace rolled her eyes. "More an understand of a sort. We're teenagers who are still discovering ourselves and our bodies. The contract enables us to discover each other in a safe environment seeing as we're already essentially engaged."

"So if something happens, it's not quite the scandal because you've been promised to each other anyway."

"Right."

"So what went wrong with you and Parkinson."

"Pansy got sloppy. Depending on the House, most first borns are taught everything they'd ever need as Heir's. Pansy took that for granted."

"I don't know what that means." Grace confessed.

"It means that Pansy did everything she was ever asked to do and in return she asked for things her father didn't care about."

"He spoiled her because it was useful."

"He was proud of her because she was proving to be cunning and clever." Malfoy corrected her. "That's how we were all raised."

"So how did she get sloppy?"

"She got us caught. Someone sent her father a picture of us. In the act."

"Oh Merlin!" Grace said as she blushed, quickly looking up to the ceiling. "Are you telling me there was someone in the room with you?"

"Merlin no! I mean she got adventurous and we got caught in an alcove."

"An alcove?! Honestly Malfoy, anyone could walk by!"

"Kind of the point, Potter."

"Black-Gryffindor."

"Whatever. Point is, we got caught."

Grace snorted. "Yeah, and then you blamed her for everything. Which still confuses me because you only just said this sort of thing was normal and you were both in a contract."

Malfoy nodded. "Sure, but her father was sent a picture of us in the middle of the act in a public place and Pansy refused to give in."

"Give in?"

"Her choices were to either break the contract and find a new one or her father would find someone for her."

"But that doesn't make sense, you just said this sort of thing happens. What's different about this?"

"A third party sent a titled House visual evidence of their children breaking their Courting contracts."

"Because it wasn't outlined in the contract?"

"No, because it was."

"Fucking shit. You weren't allowed to?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Kind of. Unofficially we were allowed to because it's one of those unspoken things, but officially we were to remain chaste."

"And her father getting that picture was enough evidence to put a black mark on both of your Houses."

"Which is why my father broke the contract and had me being the perfect Heir for the past few months."

"Where Parkinson dug her heels in."

"She's always been obsessed with becoming a Malfoy and she wasn't willing to let that go."

"Still doesn't explain why you're here though."

"I'm earning back the grace I lost during this debacle. It puts me in a favourable light to be seen here and not make a scene on Pansy's behalf."

"Fuck, would you really have?"

"Not a bloody chance. I don't even want to imagine what my father would do to me if I even thought it."

"Do you think Parkinson thought you would?"

"Who knows with Pansy." Malfoy shrugged. "She firecalled me just last week to beg me to try and talk my father out of breaking our contract."

"I always knew she was crazy. What happens to her now?"

"Pansy?" Malfoy asked as Grace nodded. "She finishes school before she eventually joins her husband in France."

"She's allowed to finish school?"

Malfoy gave her a look as if he thought she was stupid. "We don't want uneducated wives. Besides, the French are snobs and Deveraux will expect Pansy to be well educated."

"No Beauxbatons?"

"She'd resent him for that. No, she'll get extra French lessons and anything he deems important until she graduates."

"What you said earlier,"

"I said a lot"

"About being the Heir. Is there a difference for a female Heir over a male Heir?"

"In what way?"

"Well, Parkinson doesn't have any male Heirs, right?"

"Right."

"So who will take over his House? Parkinson was in a contract with you but you are going to take over House Malfoy and I seriously doubt Parkinson would just hand over his House to you."

"He wouldn't."

"So who would it go to? Your children?"

"No, Lord Parkinson has another daughter, five years younger than Pansy. Pansy was the Heir and expected to make a suitable connection, like one to me and my House."

"But her sister isn't?"

"Her sister is the spare. She's been brought up to marry someone else's spare to head up House Parkinson when the time comes."

Grace turned that over in her mind as she watched several couples glide across the floor. "So if you had a brother or a sister, they would be the spare to your House with the expectation they would marry into another House to become the Head there?"

"Not always, of course, but yes. There are always exceptions, death being one of them, where plans have to be thrown out."

"So having one child is unusual?" Grace asked as she looked over at James.

"Again, depends on the family and the circumstances. The Potters were thought to have been lucky to even have one child, two would have been impossible."

"And you?"

"That is House business." Malfoy stated with a smirk.

"And the Potter's wasn't?" Grace asked with a hint of irritation as she rolled her eyes.

"That was gossip, no one ever stated otherwise."

"Prick." She said with an amused smile before she realized that she was actually thinking of him in friendly terms despite him being a massive arsehole and frowned heavily.

Malfoy sighed deeply as he picked up another flute of champagne. "That's my cue. I was hoping this would last longer, but it's a nice start." He said before giving her a short nod and walking away.

Grace looked at his retreating back with something very close to mounting horror. If she didn't know any better, she'd start to think Malfoy was actually starting to grow on her!

"There you are!" Hermione announced from behind her while she watched Malfoy disappear into the crowd.

"Where did you go?" Grace asked as she shook off her musings.

"Oh, Viktor is out there mingling like mad and making sure everyone knows we're Courting." Hermione said as she waved her hand in every direction possible.

"And that's a bad thing?" Grace asked, noting the strained tone. "I thought you'd like that."

"Normally I would, but he's doing this so the McLaggen thing never happens again."

"I warned you that that was a terrible plan." Grace said with a reprimanding look.

Hermione snorted. "How was I to know you actually meant that?"

"Because you're not an idiot? Everyone knew that it was a terrible plan."

"Yes. Well. It's over now, isn't it." Hermione said stiffly, clearly not liking where the conversation was going.

"Which is why you're not telling him to knock it off." Grace said slyly as she watched a twitching Hermione. "Because you feel guilty you did it anyway despite the both of us telling you it was a bad plan."

"What are you, my mind healer?" She snarked.

"No, worse, I'm your best friend."

"Go be my best friend somewhere else then. Preferably where I can't hear you."

"Yeah? Best avoid any where there's food or drink." Grace said with a smirk as she walked towards James while Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Lord Malfoy." Grace said with a slight nod of her head. "I hate to interrupt, but I'd like a dance with my intended."

Malfoy looked constipated. "Of course. James, it would be helpful if you'd agree."

"I told you I would consider it so you'll have to do the tiresome part and wait until I've actually considered it, Lucius." James stated with a jovial smile. Grace knew there were several undercurrents between the two men but she honestly couldn't give a shit. James gave Malfoy a barely-there nod before taking Grace's hand and leading her out onto the dance floor.

"One dance and then we go home?" Grace begged as they took their places in preparation for the next song.

"That bad darling?" James said softly.

"I can actually _feel_ the amount of people clamouring to have the opportunity to speak with me." Grace groaned out as they started dancing.

"I'll keep you safe." James whispered in her ear with a laugh.

"Git." Grace said just as he twirled her, making her laugh loudly enough that people took notice.

It surprised her that she actually enjoyed dancing. The ball during fourth year had been close to torture for her and she hadn't ever imagined she'd like to try her hand at dancing again. With James though, it was only a slightly stumbling gust of air. She still faltered here and there but James was a strong enough partner that it didn't matter. Her mood improved and before she knew it one dance had turned into two, turned into three, then five, then seven. It was obvious that James enjoyed having this time together and Grace could admit that, while she enjoyed the dancing, she was mostly doing it to keep away from every one else.

After seven though, her feet hurt and they'd had to take a break so James guided her to their assigned table and they were able to eat and have small conversations with the two other couples that were sat at their table. Half way through dessert the bride and groom showed up. Something, James told her, was not only very unusual since they showed up hours later, but they stayed only long enough to greet their guests and have a drink. James noticed Grace flagging after that and quickly made their excuses before bundling her up and floo-ing out. She sent Hermione a short note when she got home, but just wanted to relax with James and think of nothing else for the rest of the evening.

Taking off her dress robes she frowned in confusion as a card dropped out of her robes and fell to the floor. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, she picked up the card and turned it around.

“Oh come on!” She said in full annoyance now. “How did they even manage this sort of thing?” Grace glowered at the neat white card that proudly printed The Lord Council on its surface. Just her fucking luck. She was being stalked by a secret society. Yay.

\---******---

"We can always go back." James told her seriously as they walked into Grimmauld Place.

Grace gave him a strained smile but shook her head. If she accepted his offer now, she knew she'd probably never come to terms with Dumbledore. She took a deep fortifying breath as James closed the door behind them before making her way to the kitchen, the only real place people talked in this depressive place. After spending time away from the townhouse she was struck by the differences even more. Her cottage had been homey, a sanctity with a large dose of safety she had never had before. Here the walls themselves felt pressed against her, weighing her down with the history of those long since passed. She didn't know if it was because of the magic left over or if was just the memories Sirius had imparted on her, but she was beyond glad that she hadn't spent her Yule here.

Coming into the kitchen she noticed that Dumbledore had already been sitting there for quite a while if the cookie crumbs were any indication. There was a fresh cup of tea opposite him and she sighed quietly at the implication that this conversation would take longer than she had hoped.

"Grace." Dumbledore stated gravely, standing up when he noticed her. "Thank you for coming."

"I'm still not sure I want to." She confessed, feeling slightly generous to the man who had come to mean a great deal to her over the years.

Dumbledore nodded solemnly. "I understand and I'm grateful that you decided to meet with me." He hesitated slightly as he noticed James walking into the room behind her. "Perhaps James-"

"Stays.” She cut in. “I know you know by now, but we're in a Courtship and I'd rather not hide anything from him."

Dumbledore nodded in acceptance before giving her a genial smile. "I did hear and I believe congratulations are in order."

"For a Courtship?" Grace asked in confusion, glancing over at James who was staring at Dumbledore with a rather complicatedly stern look.

"For your Houses. You've been quite busy these last few months." Dumbledore said with a hint of cheeriness.

Grace couldn't decide if it was meant as a proper congratulations or as a subtle rebuke so she took it at face value. "Thank you Sir. It's been...well. It's been a long few months. Years. It's been a long time."

"And I'm afraid I have the horrible duty to make that even longer." He said gravely as he gestured for her to sit.

"Sir?" Grace asked as she sat down, cupping the tea in front of her just to have something to occupy her hands. James came to stand behind her, shaking his head when Dumbledore gestured to the seat beside her.

"This may be difficult to hear,” Dumbledore started slowly, “but we've had news."

"Bad news then." She concluded with a sigh as James went rigid next to her.

"It concerns Remus."

"Remus? What about Remus? Is he alright?"

"I'm afraid he was murdered." Dumbledore told her heavily, his eyes sad.

Grace frowned in confusion. "Mu-mur-Remus is...he's dead?"

"He is." Dumbledore said gently.

"No." Grace denied immediately, standing up and shaking her head. "No, I would know if he was dead. Remus would never just-he's not dead. You're wrong. Are you sure you have the right man?"

Dumbledore nodded. "We've confirmed that the body they found was indeed Remus."

"The body they found? Found where? What was he doing?" Grace demanded, not believing him for a second. Remus wouldn’t have just-he _wouldn’t_ have.

"I'm afraid that's not something we can tell you." Dumbledore said seriously, regret but also determination in his gaze. Another thing he was keeping from her, something that surround the death of someone she loved.

"'We'? Who is 'we'? Why is there a 'we' at all?" Grace demanded again, anger rising quickly as she struggled to not lose her composure. She wouldn’t cry in front of this man again. Not after last time. Not after losing them both.

"Grace-" Dumbledore started.

"No!” She said, raising her voice. “How long have you known that he was d-that he was gone?"

"Officially a little over two weeks." He told her regretfully.

"Two weeks?” Grace whispered in shock. “Two weeks! Then why the bloody hell am I only hearing this now?"

"There's a lot more going on than you know."

"Only because you won't tell me!" Grace interrupted again, emotions swirling as her anger grew once more. This man! This man who kept keeping things from her, important things that could have saved lives, that could have changed her choices, the decisions she had made, and now this! "Where is he now?"

"We've laid him to rest." Dumbledore told her.

"Laid him to-what do you mean? Buried? You've already buried him? Oh fuck." Grace cursed as she sat down heavily, her head falling into her hands as she shook her head. She didn’t even get to say goodbye. He was just-just gone. Just like Sirius. He was just gone. He had been here, been real and warm and had loved her as she had him and now he was dead. For what?

"Why wasn't I told?" James croaked in the silence that followed.

"There was a lot of uncertainty surrounding his death."

"What does that mean? He was my best friend, Albus. My _last_ friend."

"We believe he was attacked by a vampire." Dumbledore finally said after an uncomfortable silence.

Grace's head shot up in surprise. "A vampire? But I thought that vampires hated werewolves?"

Dumbledore looked a hundred years older as he looked at her. "We have evidence suggesting that a large number of both vampire clans and werewolf packs have chosen to join Voldemort. We believe this was a warning."

"To whom? The only ones who would have known about Remus were the ones who knew he was part of the Order." James stated sharply. "He was never in any contact with the clans, they wouldn't have listened to him to begin with."

"We don't have any answers." Dumbledore said heavily. "The only thing we do know is how he died and the manner in which he was killed was a message to us."

"Why would you think that?" James asked even as the question sounded more like a demand.

"Because he wasn't found in England."

"Did you send him somewhere else?" Grace asked in confusion, her anger draining with every passing moment.

"No. We sent him to the woods in the west of England where we had heard credited rumours of packs gathering. The plan was for Remus to go and gather intelligence and possible convince a few of them to join us."

"Why are you telling us this now?" Grace asked, tired and feeling lost as grief was starting to set in. An ache settled in her heart and despite not loving him like a partner, she had loved him as a person, as family.

"I believe it was important for you to know." Dumbledore said finally.

Grace laughed wetly. "Important. I loved him."

"I have arranged for a mind healer to meet with you at Hogwarts once the holidays are over." Dumbledore told her gently.

Grace shook her head, not knowing if it was in denial or because she didn't want to listen to him anymore.

"Important." James snarled spitefully. "And me? Would it have been important for me to know Albus? You damn near kicked me out of the room earlier! Would I have known if Grace hadn't wanted me here? "Remus was my friend!" He bellowed out angrily, startling Grace as Dumbledore looked on with sad eyes.

"James, please, I can't." Grace begged as tears streamed down her face at James' distress. It wasn't just her that had lost someone. Remus and James had been friends since they were eleven. All those lost years, all the lost years between them now that he was dead. "I can't."

James looked at her, his angry eyes softening as he took in her distress. He pulled her into his arms and wrapped his arms around her tightly even as he moved them out of the room. "You're going to be alright, Grace. I promise, everything's going to be alright."

She didn't believe him but nodded her head anyway, probably to show him that she'd heard him. It didn't help, the words he said or how tightly he held her or even how quiet he was after he had said it. None of it helped. None of it mattered.

Remus was _dead_.

"James." Dumbledore stated warningly enough that Grace turned her head to peek at him. He looked calculating. He looked disappointed. Those weren't emotions that she thought should go with someone who had just told her about the death of a loved one. Had Dumbledore been playing a game with her?

"No, Albus. I think you've said enough today, don't you?" James stated lowly, dangerously, before turning her and guiding her quickly out the door and out of the house.

No one noticed when Hermione quietly shut the door behind her as Grace and James left Grimmauld Place.

\---******---

Hermione hesitated as she looked at Viktor. "I think Remus may have been murdered." She said softly, not wanting to give voice to the thought that had haunted her since she had overheard the news.

"Vhy vould you say that?" Viktor asked, making her sit next to him, grabbing her hands so she couldn't worry them further.

She sighed deeply. "Before he left, he said something to me. He said that if he died it would be because of one person. He said that that person needed Grace isolated, needed her alone and broken so that she would trust only one man." She took a deep breath as she looked at her fiancé. "I think Professor Dumbledore had Remus killed so that she would trust him again." She said softly.

Viktor looked taken aback before he huffed and cocked his head in thought. "Vhy vould this benefit him?"

He asked and Hermione almost slumped in relief. He didn't necessarily believe her, but he hadn't laughed at her and told her she was crazy. He was even willing to talk it through with her. She teared up a little as she looked at him but managed to gather herself enough to answer him.

"Grace has been pulling away from him since James turned up. Then he knew that Professor Snape was her father and he pressured her to tell him. She had a fit about that and stayed right away. Now Remus is dead and he's the only one who has answers."

Viktor hummed in thought. "You do not think that perhaps James has done this?"

Hermione was slightly stunned by the question but took a few minutes to think it through before she shook her head. "No. No, I don't think so." She said carefully. "He doesn't have any motive. He's possessive of Grace, yes, but he allows her to do whatever she wants and they were even in a relationship with Remus. Grace was the one who wanted to break things off with Remus before he left, not James. There would be no benefit to his death for James."

"He vould have her to himself." Viktor pointed out, playing devil's advocate.

She nodded. "That's true enough, but it wouldn't isolate her. She doesn't rely on him like she's done with Dumbledore before. She still goes to other people, she still has other friends."

Viktor sighed. "I think that there is perhaps more to the story that ve are missing." He said slowly, thinking it through as he said it.

Hermione looked at him. "What do you mean? You...You don't think I'm wrong, do you?" She asked, her voice become small as her insecurities grew. He smiled at her and pulled her close, tucking her under his arm and letting her headrest on his shoulder as he hugged her tight.

"No." He stated. "You are not false but I think Dumbledore has other plans to make sure your friend stays in his control."

Hermione felt relief flow through her veins as she slumped on Viktor in relief. "You're right. There's more to the story." She stayed silent as she thought about the problem before a stray thought hit her. "Should I tell Grace?"

Viktor hummed in thought. "She is a good friend, yes?"

"The best." Hermione stated promptly.

"Then alvays tell. Secrets only harm good friendships."

"But what if it puts her in more danger?"

"Do not be stupid." He huffed out in annoyance. "If she is in danger you must tell her. She is capable of protecting herself, yes?"

"Yes." Hermione nodded.

"Then she must know what she's in danger from. Can't fight what you cannot see."

Hermione hummed into his shoulder. "I'll tell her when I see her."

"Good. Now, wedding speak. My mother vould like to know what kind of food you want served." Viktor prompted.

Hermione burst out laughing and smiled at him with a happiness she hadn't known before. Yes, she thought as they planned their wedding, her future had certainly taken a turn for the brighter since she had met him again and she would do her damndest to keep it that way.

In a moment of understanding, she suddenly knew they way Grace felt for James and it made perfect sense to her that Grace would do everything in her power to protect him.

She finally understood.

Hermione would kill to keep Viktor safe.

\---******---

It had been one thing to suspect. It had been another to hear Severus urge him not to trust James. Playground rivalry that carried on into adult life rarely made for objective thinking. He had taken his time and he had done his due diligence and now he had wished he had done more. Albus could admit to himself that his vigilance had waned in the face of a truer and more prominent threat.

He had let himself be taken in by his past fondness for James and a hope that this time it wouldn't end in death. He had seen the signs, worried about their meaning, before ultimately deciding that it wasn't what he thought it had been.

Then Grace Potter wasn't a Potter. Arthur had confided his worries and Severus had been her father. He tried to think back over a decade ago, tried to see the truth through the years and had come up with nothing. James and Lily Potter had been happily married and Severus had had no part in either of their lives. They had been frightened by the prophecy, had stood strong in their fear and declared they would do anything for their little girl and he had believed them. Had helped protect them to the best of his abilities. Their deaths had been a tragedy he had never recovered from.

The shock of seeing James Potter look as he had all those years ago made his suspicion grow. Grace's reaction and the way James had acted around her had made him compliant.

Until today.

Today Albus had to shake off the guilt from Lily's death and his part in it. Today he had finally allowed his eyes to be opened and the suspicion to fully form. The James Potter he had known had never been as dangerous as the man who had just taken Grace out of the house. There was something going on, something he had missed, something that was difficult to see even knowing it was there, and now he had to find out what it was before Grace paid the price with her life. The only thing he did know with absolute certainly was that he would not allow anyone to harm Grace while he still lived.

It was time to take a closer look at James Potter.

\---******---

Her head grieved.

Her heart breathed out in relief.

The tears that fell were filled with shock.

Her senses dulled.

Dead. Murdered. Another life ripped from her fingers, her soul bleeding for the warmth of family as darkness wove itself protectively around her.

How much blood did she have on her hands?

\---******---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who reads, kudo's, comments, subs, and to say that I really appreciate the support in whichever way you show it! It means the world to me and I can't express enough how grateful I am to you all!  
We're getting closer to the end guys! Not sure how many more, but I'm guessing at least five more chapters.  
Stay safe everyone and happy holidays!!


	15. Nothing You Can Say Can Tear Me Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note to say I know nothing about psychology and am most definitely not an expert despite googling attempts.  
Also also, February posting will be skipped so keep a look out for March!  
No beta, mistakes here to haunt.

"Are you sure?" Ron asked dubiously as he looked at the small pendant in his hand, ignoring the loud shouting and bonking coming from his family members as they got ready to leave for the train.

Mundungus puffed up as if he were insulted. "'Course I am, ain’t I? Thing like this? Mate, this'll get you everything you want from the...bird." The man smirked at him and gave him some wiggly eyes and a knowing smirk, but Ron ignored it all.

If this thing really did what Mundungus said it would...well, Grace would be his by the end of the year and not even James Potter would be able to take her away.

"You're absolutely sure this is what you think it is?" Ron asked again, this time narrowing his eyes as he considered the man Mundungus was.

"We're friends mate, you know I wouldn't do nothing to a friend."

Ron scoffed at that. "Yeah you would, but just remember that I've got a better line to Dumbledore than you do. You backstab me on this and I'll make sure he sends you to Azkaban."

Mundungus looked equal parts terrified and annoyed. "I told ya, I'm not a liar. You put that on and concentrate on your bird and before you know it you'll be Courting. Nobody will know any different."

"Apart from you." Ron stated mildly as he put the chain around his neck before looking back at Mundungus.

People around him usually thought he was far too hot headed to think rationally in the heat of the moment, but Ron liked to think that he had a far better understanding of how people worked than others. Mundungus worked best when he had a goal and he could cheat you out a little here or there. Which is why he hadn't minded the up marking on the charm he could have gotten practically for free from Bill, of course if he asked Bill he'd have gotten quite a few questions he couldn't answer. Threatening Mundungus, while effective, would also only work if Mundungus believed he had the upper hand. The minute he lost that upper hand he'd either have to get rid of Mundungus or make sure he couldn't say a word about their deal.

"I thought we were friends." Mundungus wheedled.

"And we are. I did give you all the Black knickknacks didn't I? That's what friends do." Ron said with a pointed look that had Mundungus giving him a sharp smile.

"So it is." Mundungus said before nodding his head and walking out the door without another word.

Ron grinned before wrapping his hand around the pendant and humming lightly as he thought of all the things he wanted from Grace Potter.

\---******---

"Are you going to be alright?" James asked softly as they stood on platform 9 3/4.

"It'll be good for me." Grace whispered back, gripping his hands in hers. She wasn't sure whom she was trying to convince more at that point since neither of them wanted her to leave.

"I can always apparate us home."

"My things are on the train."

"We'll buy you new things."

"I'm pretty sure Hedwig will peck you for even thinking of that." She laughed lightly, wishing it was appropriate for him to hug her in such a public place. She wanted his arms around her so much she could feel his phantom arms around her already.

"Then I can always come by and visit." James said as the five-minute warning whistle blew and drowned out all other sounds. "That's your signal. Time to go." He said as he pulled her in closer.

"This is so stupid." She muttered not moving an inch. She didn't want to let go of him, didn't want to suddenly let go of the one person who had been holding her up all this time.

"You are going to have to be the one that walks away darling. I'm finding it difficult to let you go."

She leaned her forehead against his and closed her eyes as she exhaled lightly. "You're not the only one. I wish you could go with me."

"I wish you didn't have to leave. We could get you tutors." He suggested lightly, already knowing her answer.

"Not allowed halfway through the year. I checked. And it would need to be for legitimate reasons."

"Death is a legitimate reason."

"He wasn't in my life long enough for that to be a real reason. They don't even consider him an uncle."

James pulled back as he searched her expression. "Do you feel like that?"

"I-" She broke off hesitantly before gathering her thoughts. "I don't know. I only met him in my third year and it wasn't exactly like he kept in touch. I only saw and interacted with him when I saw Sirius again."

James furrowed his brow. "Are you telling me that after meeting him, he never reached out?" She shook her head. "I'm starting to feel less terrible about his passing." He mumbled as he pulled her into a tight hug.

"I only really got to know him after Sirius died and when you showed up. It was-looking back it was all so sudden. He was my teacher and then you were there and suddenly he wanted more."

"And you never did?"

"I don't know. I think I was flattered and confused. He was safe to me, steady, someone I knew."

"That's not quite the description one would think of with a potential lover." He said on a laugh. "But it does explain why you didn't seem too broken hearted after we made our declarations. I thought perhaps you would have been angrier than you were."

Grace felt her face flush red in embarrassment. "It was easier that way." She mumbled.

"Ignoring the problem?"

"No, having you make it impossible. It was easier to explain to Remus why we couldn't be anything because after a year I'd have more of a relationship with you so it wouldn't make sense to make a commitment outside of that."

"Remus would have fallen by the wayside and would have accepted the outcome without you having to say anything." James nodded in understanding. "And now?"

"Now I feel guilty for feeling relieved."

"That he will never court you." James clarified.

"That, well sort of. I realized I never really wanted anything from him other than comfort but I also realized he did want more from me. After our last conversation, he focused more on you than on what I was trying to tell him."

"That you two were over." James clarified.

She nodded. "I'm upset he's gone but I'm also not upset that he's gone."

"And you feel guilty for feeling that way."

"I don't know how to feel anymore." She said on a sigh as the second warning whistle went off.

"Dumbledore mentioned a mind-healer, perhaps you could take him up on that." Grace shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "You don't have to even speak with them, but perhaps going just once will ease your fears and doubts."

"Maybe." Grace said reluctantly.

"As long as you consider it." He said softly, searching her eyes before kissing her lightly on the cheek and pushing her to the train. "Time to go darling."

"You'll write?" She asked hopefully, feeling needy and stupid for it.

"Every day if you need it." He confirmed seriously.

"Well." She huffed with a small smile. "Maybe not every day."

"Every other day then." He said with an indulgent smile as she tugged him up the stairs and kissed him soundly. "Temptress." He breathed before stepping back and smiling at her. "Go find your friend and get settled. I'll wait until the train leaves."

Grace nodded and gave him a small wave before turning and heading towards the compartment she'd found earlier. She was only too happy to see Hermione already settled and reading one of her Arithmancy books, only looking up briefly with a barely-there smile before turning back to her book. Grace relaxed a little and went to the window and tugged it open, smiling as she saw James already waiting.

"I'll see you next week?" She asked hopefully.

"Darling, you wouldn't be able to keep me away. Be safe." He warned suddenly. "_He's_ on the move again and I'll be upset if anything happens to you."

Grace chuckled lightly. "Shouldn't you be more worried what I could do to the person that might attack me?"

He raised an eyebrow in challenge. "Probably nothing compared to what I would do once I found him."

"Sweet talker." She teased him as the doors slammed shut and the final whistle blew. "Next week then?" She asked again, some urgency in her voice.

"I can come by tomorrow if you need it." He assured her. "Take some time, settle in and speak to the mind-healer. I'll see you next week." He promised as the train started to move.

Grace could only nod and wave at him as the train picked up speed and left the platform. James was out of sight faster than she could blink and something in her heart twisted at their distance already. She blinked back tears and huffed, exasperated with herself as she shut the window and plopped down heavily in her seat opposite Hermione.

Hermione glanced up at the noise and looked out the window; seemingly surprised they were moving, before placing a bookmark between her open pages and then closing the book. She hesitated with a look at Grace as she stowed her book away.

"I heard about Remus." Hermione said softly, as if saying it in a whisper would somehow make it have less of an impact.

"I figured."

"Is there - I mean, are you alright?" Grace shrugged listlessly as she stared out the window. "I'll listen." Hermione promised.

Grace turned her head to look at Hermione before she sighed. "I don't-I'm not sure I want to talk about it."

"That's ok too."

"Dumbledore said he'd get me a mind-healer." Hermione's face did something complicated that had Grace frowning in confusion. "What? What's that look?"

"I need to tell you something but I'm not really sure how you'll take it or that this is really the right time to do it."

"Ok?" Grace replied hesitantly, noticing Hermione's nerves and wondering what she was going to bring up that made her so uncomfortable. "I mean, I won't know until you tell me."

"Right. No, of course you wouldn't. I think Dumbledore may have something to do with Remus' death."

"Um. That's...a thought. What do you mean, 'had something to do with'? Because he did. He sent Remus off on a mission and everything, and he is the head of the Order and whatnot."

"No, I know all that, I mean in a more direct approach."

"Direct approach. Hermione..."

"I think he had Remus killed."

"You...you think...aha." Grace nodded even as she frowned heavily.

"I know what it sounds like, alright? It sounds mad, absolutely mad, but _what if_?" She pressed imploringly. "What if he did?"

"But that's just the thing, why would he? James would have more of a motive to kill Remus and even then it's flimsy."

"Viktor said the same, but Dumbledore has more at stake than James."

"Stake in what?"

"In you!"

"Me? You think he killed Remus to, what, keep me in line or something?"

"I think he got Remus out of the way so he could keep you close."

"But for what?" Grace asked perplexed. "I've been going to lessons with him to learn all about Tom Riddle, I've listened to him, helped him-"

"You've also been drifting away from him." Hermione cut in. "You've gone and gotten your Lordship, for two Houses which is practically unheard of these days, you have attorneys behind you, you have a seat on the Wizengamot."

"But all of that is in his favour. I'm not saying I'm blindly loyal to him, but between him and Riddle, I'll always choose Dumbledore. He knows my views, he knows where I stand in this whole mess."

"What about James?"

Grace snorted. "I don't think Dumbledore cares all that much about my relationships."

"Even if that relationship makes you question everything?"

"That's a little far fetched, don't you think?"

"Is it though? He's barrelled into our lives and fought with you about the very place you see yourself in Dumbledore's Order."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Wouldn't you? You said yourself that James has been adamant you stop seeing yourself as the leader of this whole 'war'. He wants you to be safe and let the adults around us take care of the things they should."

"Which they should." Grace pointed out. "We're sixteen, what do we know compared to grown wizards?"

"That." Hermione stated as she pointed at Grace. "That right there. Before James you would have never said those words, you would have never even thought of them! It was always your responsibility because no one else was going to do it."

"Well they didn't. Still don't." Grace replied petulantly. "I understand what you're trying to tell me, it's just that I don't think Dumbledore would look at me, one person, and see the same things you are right now. I'm a cog in a bigger wheel, not the thing holding all of us together. Not that I don't believe you,” she hurried to say, “but it's just so..."

"Unbelievable?" Hermione said on a sigh. "I know. It doesn't really fit despite the fact that it fits. There's something missing and I can't put my finger on what it is."

"Maybe the things that fit are because they do. Dumbledore has done some things that aren't great and that I'm still really angry about. He's a great leader and he knows what needs to be done to get to the end result, but he forgets about us as individuals."

"Like the fact that we're only sixteen." Hermione said with a nod. "I'm just not sure he's not responsible."

"So figure it out." Grace told her plainly. "If it's bothering you this much and it's sticking with you to the point that you feel you have to do something, then follow your instincts."

"You don't think I'm crazy?"

Grace rolled her eyes. "When are any of us really crazy? Besides, what happens when you turn out to be right but we just dismissed the whole thing because 'he's Dumbledore'?"

Hermione gave her a relieved smile and nodded, opening her mouth just as the door slid open and Ginny stomped into their compartment.

"Worst. Christmas. _Ever_." She declared dramatically before flopping down next to Grace.

"Don't you mean Yule?" Grace questioned as she chuckled at Ginny’s pain.

"Blood traitors." Ginny replied listlessly. "Bill and Charlie are all about Yule because of their jobs, but the rest of us do Christmas."

Hermione perked up. "Even your parents?"

"Blood traitors." Ginny repeated as if that explained it all.

"So why was it terrible?" Grace prompted.

"Oh that's right! You went off and disappeared at the beginning of it. You missed everything!" Ginny said dramatically as she sat up in her seat and leaned towards Grace in her enthusiasm. "And don't think I haven't forgotten about Pansy's wedding, I want all the details."

"Like you haven't already heard all about it." Grace replied with a snort.

"Course I have, doesn't mean you saw something my sources didn't."

"Sources?” Hermione sighed as if it pained her to hear it. “What are you running here? An underground gossip ring?"

"Best you never know." Ginny replied faux-haughtily before grinning. "So, Christmas started out all well and good."

Grace nodded dutifully. "Usually starts that way."

"Then I got a letter."

Grace snapped her fingers. "I remember that! I was still there for that."

"It was from a solicitor."

"What did you do?" Hermione asked sternly.

"I resent that." Ginny complained. "If I ever do something, you better believe I'd make sure to never get caught. Beside the point."

"Aha." Grace hummed as she grinned at Ginny in amusement.

"So I got a letter from a solicitor saying they wanted me to come in and talk to them about what I'd seen on the train at the beginning of the year."

"Right, right."

"So mum goes off on me, 'what did you do' 'what's this all about', you know, the usual."

"I thought you were the perfect child?"

Ginny glared at her but ignored her comment and continued on. "Dad calms her down, we actually talk about it and I explain what it's probably about. Well, dad's not having any of it."

"What? Why?" Hermione asked in surprise.

"Dunno, but he's suddenly strict and demands I don't do anything without him."

"I'm guessing he goes with you?" Hermione asked even as she nodded at the sensibility of it.

Ginny nods. "Yeah, and I couldn't even make this up."

"Make what up?" Grace wondered.

"I'm getting to that. So, dad takes me to the solicitor's office and they sit us down and start asking me questions about the train ride and what I heard when I saw Randle and Munslow."

Grace nodded. "Yeah, I heard they were trying to make it into a big case, blood feud levels."

"You're ruining all my fun here." Ginny complained.

"They declared a blood feud?" Hermione gasped in shock. "That's unheard of!"

"Not really." Ginny grumped, her story well and truly hijacked.

“So what happened after they questioned you? I can't imagine Randle and Eastchurch were allowed to be there for the questioning?” Grace cajoled, hoping to get Ginny back into the spirit.

“No, they weren't there.”

“Then how do you know about the blood feud?” Hermione interrupted.

Ginny raised an eyebrow as she looked at Hermione in a distinctly unimpressed manner. “If either of you would let me bloody tell this story you would know.”

“Sorry.” They both replied meekly.

“So, I tell them my story, they take notes and question me. Dad's next to me huffing and puffing because it sounds like an interrogation and I'm still underage. They finally finish with us and we shake hands part ways when dad says he has to go to the loo.”

“Drank the tea right at the start didn't he?” Grace asked with a knowing look that was confirmed by Ginny's grin.

“He goes to the men's and tells me not to move, because obviously I'm five.” Ginny complained. “Then I hear some raised voices. I'm curious so I wander down the hall-“

“Of course you do.” Hermione sighed.

“And pull out an extendable ear-“

“Because why wouldn't you have one on you.”

“When I hear at least six different voices all screaming at each other. It was hard to make out at first, what with them all trying to yell over each other, but it finally starts to make sense. The Munslow's got wind of what Randle and Eastchurch were trying to do and came over to make a scene. They brought their own solicitors with a cease and desist and were yelling at Randle and Eastchurch about ruining their reputations on a whim.”

“Weren't they going to Greece though?” Grace wondered. “To lay low and all that?”

“They were, before they heard about the Randle and Eastchurch trying to go after them legally. They just wanted all this to die down naturally but if they went after them legally then it would take way longer than, say, ten years before people forgot about all this.”

“Right right, so they're yelling...” Grace prompted as she rolled her hand in a 'continue' motion.

“So they're yelling when Mrs. Randle suddenly say the unforgivable.”

“Oh Merlin.” Hermione breathed in anticipation as Grace scoots forwards a bit.

"'If your daughter wasn't such a slut, it wouldn't have been a problem for her to hang on to a good pureblood boy.'"

“Ho!” Hermione breathes out shocked.

“Wait!” Grace said with a frown. “Was she trying to say that one of girls was too much of a slut to hold on to Munslow, the guy who was doing all the cheating?”

Ginny nodded with glee. “Basically told her that her daughter slept around and that her son only did what was right when he broke things off the way he did.”

“That wouldn't have gone over very well.”

“It didn't. It went silent, and I mean I could hear the scratches of a quill quiet. Then, couldn't hear which one said it, but either Lord Randle or Lord Eastchurch said in this really low, dangerous voice that such accusations in light of the truth over the months was the final straw and declared a blood feud. I was at least two hallways away and the binding light was strong enough for even me to see! Then the other Lord agreed and _whoosh_! Blood feud number two!”

“Wow! I mean, wow! If you heard that, does that mean you are now a witness in the eyes of magic?” Hermione asked with interest.

“Don't care.” Ginny admitted as she stole a chocolate frog. “There were plenty of other people around who would be better witnesses if something ever came up.”

“What happened after that?” Grace asked.

Ginny shook her head after she bit the head off the chocolate frog. “No idea, dad caught me.”

“Ouch. “

“Nah, wasn't bad. I just got a lecture the whole way home about confidentiality and how I should respect other people and their rights to privacy.”

“Oh, that's not bad.”

“Could have been worse.” Ginny agreed. “Now that you know my news, tell me all about the wedding!”

“Yeah, I only saw you for the actual ceremony.” Grace said as they both turned to Hermione. “Where did you go after?”

“Remember how I wrote you and told you Viktor and I were going to all the Yule parties to introduce ourselves to society?” Grace nodded. “Sort of the same thing. We knew more faces, but Viktor said it was only smart to keep the momentum going and get invites out for tea and the such.”

“Tea? Really? We're still in school!” Grace protested.

Ginny rolled her eyes. “We all know you're practically a recluse, and being who you are most people understand the need to sequester yourself. Someone like Hermione though, whose only claim to fame is her new found House, needs connections and introductions if she's going to get anywhere.”

“What? Being my friend isn't good enough?” Grace asked jokingly.

“Not when we're not seen together.” Hermione stated. “Never mind that, so Viktor and I are walking around, talking to people and making connections, then I see you," She says with a nod towards Grace, "before you were absolutely rude to me and I had to run away."

“Sure, let's go with that.” Grace nodded with a grin.

“Get to the good stuff already!” Ginny moaned.

“I'm getting there! Parkinson was absent all this time.”

“Yeah, boy, did I hear about that! Her father was livid! Not that her new husband was much better, but I heard it took them hours to drag her out. She's not even allowed to come home this summer as punishment.”

“Why would she go home? Shouldn't she be going to her husband?”

Ginny see-sawed her hand. “Eh. It's a bit of a situation, what with her still being in school and all. Mostly it would have been whatever she was most comfortable with but with her actions these past few weeks I'm not surprised her father's washed his hands of her.”

“That's not even Purebloods being Purebloods.” Hermione said shaking her head. “That's just bad parenting.”

Grace bit her tongue in order for her not to say anything to that and decided a change of topic was in order. “Back to the wedding. You were about to tell us something.”

“The best something! So Parkinson and her new husband are late to the party but they finally come out and make their rounds, shaking hands and making a little small talk before going on to the next guest.”

“Let me guess, you got to talk to her?” Ginny asked, already at the edge of her seat.

“Oh, I did more than talk to her.” Hermione promised with a wicked grin.

“Oh Merlin.” Grace moaned as she dropped her head into her hands.

“Oh Merlin!” Ginny breathed in excitement as she scooted closer to Hermione.

“She didn't even recognize me for a full two minutes.” Hermione crowed gleefully. “She was eyeing Viktor up and down like a hungry hippogriff, but ignored me until her husband said something that caught her attention.”

“Which was?”

“Dunno, wasn't paying that close attention. In any case, her head snaps over to me and she gapes at me like an idiot before she kind of gathers herself together and makes some horrible quip about me being a muggleborn in a Pureblood party, but you know, worse.”

“Krum must have loved that.” Ginny quipped.

“Oh, he death glared her. _Hard_.” Hermione replied smugly. “Say what you want about Viktor, but he knows how to handle himself socially once he puts his mind to it. He turns to her husband and says something in French that I just miss and her husbands face goes dark. Like he's absolutely livid, dark.”

“I thought you spoke French?” Grace asked in confusion. “Didn't you go there once to ski or something?”

“I know the basics.” Hermione waves away. “He just said it a little too quickly and, honestly? His accent is so thick that it was hard to understand. Deveraux, on the other hand, him I could understand.”

“Is this the reason she keeps glaring at you but refuses to get near you?” Ginny asked, looking thoughtful.

“We've been on the train for two hours, how could you possibly have deduced any of that?” Grace demanded, having not seen Hermione leave the compartment once since they left the platform.

“Saw them on the platform together.” Ginny said as she tossed her hair over her shoulder. “They made to go to the same door but once Parkinson saw Hermione, she suddenly switched doors.”

“And somehow that means she refuses to get near Hermione?”

“When have you even known Parkinson to not try and get one over on Hermione? Usually she'd bump into her and sneer something about her hair or her teeth or her-“

“Alright, alright! I'm right here you know! We all know what she's done, no need to repeat it all.” Hermione interrupted loudly, glaring slightly at Ginny who gave her an apologetic look.

“So Deveraux says something back in French.” Grace prompts.

“Right. From what I got out of his answer, Viktor said something to him about whether or not this was how his House was going to be conducting itself now since I'm not only the Head of my House but also the one who brought it back from the 'dead'. Deveraux is seething, you could see it in his eyes, and says that reparations will be made for the insult.”

“Holy Merlin in his britches.” Grace breathes. “Did you get a _boon_?”

Hermione laughs lightly. “No, not that good. He had Parkinson write out an apology note to me and sent me a gift with the promise that Viktor and I would be welcome at their marriage celebration in France this summer.”

“Connections then.” Grace said with a nod. “For only being ‘out’ just this winter, you sure got a lot of solid connections.”

“I know.” Hermione stated happily.

“What about the gift?” Ginny pressed. “What was the gift?”

Hermione scoffed. “Some really tacky necklace. It's old and valuable and probably an heirloom of some sort so I can't get rid of it unless I want to insult them and start some sort of minor war.”

Ginny laughed. “So she gave you something that would hurt, but made sure it was an insult to you too?”

“Not the weirdest thing to happen to me though.” Hermione said suddenly, sitting up straighter as if she remembered something she had wanted to bring up. “It wasn't much long after you left with James.” She said with a nod Grace's way.

Grace looked innocent. “What's that?”

“Lord Malfoy came over to me for the oddest conversation I've ever had, including all the ones I've had with you.”

“Prat.” Grace mumbled on a glare that Hermione laughed at.

“He came up to me and, it's hard to remember the exact words now, but I think he was thanking me for watching out for Malfoy? Only he never said it like that and he looked constipated the entire time he spoke with me.”

“Oh!” Grace said as her face cleared up in understanding. “Yeah, no, that makes sense actually. He's actually part of the reason you were invited to the wedding.”

“Are you saying I didn't get one on the merits of being a Lord?”

Grace chuckled. “Probably not. Remember what James said, that people would know and talk behind your back but never say anything to your face?”

“About me being muggleborn you mean. The thing that Parkinson ‘forgot’.”

“That.” Grace nodded. “I think a lot of people have softened to you already because you and Krum went around Yule to all those parties and people saw you adhering to the traditional customs of the Wizarding world so they know you're trying.”

“But not enough to gain an invitation to a prominent Lord's wedding on such short notice.” Hermione surmised grimly. “Added to the fact that I got that invitation before I really made any sort of connections from the parties. How did I not notice?”

“I think you were far too pleased by getting one over on Parki-Deveraux to really stop and think about it all rationally. “

“Probably helped your standing too, actually.” Ginny said mid-bite of her next chocolate frog.

Hermione wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Just wait to finish eating, it's not that hard.” She muttered before continuing in a normal tone. “I think I helped my standing.”

Grace shook her head. “I actually asked James about that, how close we were all sitting to the front at the wedding. Since, you know, the closer to the front you are the closer to the family you are?”

“Is that a thing? I didn't know that was thing.” Ginny remarked surprised.

“So I wasn't supposed to be sitting so close?”

“Neither of us were.” Grace pointed out. “We're both new Lords with no connections and still in Hogwarts, not to mention you're in a contract with a foreign wizard.”

“Alright, I'll bite, why was I allowed to sit so closely to the front then?”

“Because Lord Parkinson knew about you sending that letter to him. Or rather, the picture.” Grace said with a pointed look.

Hermione blushed lightly and cleared her throat. “Wouldn't stand up in court.”

“He found you.”

“Wait wait _wait_, what do you mean picture? What picture?”

“Nope.” Grace said shaking her head. “I know too much about this world to gossip about this. It'll come back and hex me and I'm not willing to be implicated in it. I've said far too much already.”

Ginny turned narrowed eyes to Hermione who promptly shook her head. “If Grace says no, I'm most certainly not doing it. Can you imagine how bad it would be if _Grace_ said it was bad? Nope. “

Ginny eyed them both with suspicious interest before slowly nodding. “I mean, fair point.”

“I heavily object to all of that, I have great sense!”

“You have great something.” Hermione agreed. “Anyway, she started hastily as Grace turned to glare at her, “not the point. “

“Nope.” Grace repeated as she shook her head again. “I'm not saying anything that can be connected to me. You can ask me later.”

“Well that useless.” Ginny grumped before turning to Grace. “How about you? Anything exciting on your end?”

“Not really? I mean, the Wizarding world now knows I'm in a contract with James so there's that. I didn't see Deveraux at the party but I said hello and good luck to Lord Deveraux. James and I danced, ate, and then went home. Nothing exciting like Hermione.”

"Like I said," Hermione stated on a nod, "they let you get away with a lot because of who you are." She paused to consider her words. "And probably because of who James is and his standing in this world. Probably goes a long way too."

"Not to mention the looming war." Grace said dryly.

The three girls looked at each other before bursting out in giggles. They settled in for the rest of the trip and welcomed Luna and Neville when they came by and said goodbye to Ginny when she went off to meet her other friends. Luna was quirky and easy and Neville was awkward and excited about the new plant he had gotten for Christmas, some cactus looking thing that Hermione accidentally poked that covered them in the worst smelling goo Grace had ever smelled in her life. Thankfully it helped keep away both Deveraux and Malfoy who walked by within seconds of each other and left with scrunched up noses and gagging sounds. Neville apologized profusely before Grace pointed out that Hermione should be apologizing for poking things she really shouldn't. One wave of Luna's wand later and they were all clean, but Neville and Luna left quickly after that, leaving Grace and Hermione alone to change and gather their things.

"What you said earlier, about Lord Parkinson finding me?" Hermione stated as they made their way off the train. "Is that going to be a problem for me? Should I be worried about Malfoy too?"

"Not from what I heard." Grace replied softly, looking around them to see if anyone was particularly interested in their conversation. "James told me that you getting the invitation and sitting so closely to the front was kind of a twisted thank-you for sending the, erm, note."

"A thank-you?" Hermione asked in surprise. "It was meant to get her into trouble!" She hissed, anger starting to colour her features.

"And we know next to nothing about this world." Grace reminded her. "Think of it from his perspective. His Heir daughter is off having sex in public alcoves with her courted while their contracts state they shouldn't even be getting that close. He gets a picture, and I assume a note?" Hermione nods. "And all he sees is a warning that his daughter is close to getting caught and creating a scandal, tarnishing their House. So he calls Malfoy and they break the contract, reprimand their children and hope it's all done. Malfoy junior falls in line, but Park-Deveraux digs her heels in. She wants what she wants and she's not just giving up because daddy suddenly doesn't approve."

"Are you saying that my pleasure in her demise was all down to her own making?" Hermione asked in astonishment.

Grace shrugged. "Pretty much."

"I have never, in my whole life, been so absolutely offended." Hermione declared.

"Of course you haven't." Grace sighed as she stepped off the train. "Why wouldn't you?"

"Are you seriously telling me that House Parkinson thinks I _helped_? That this was, what, a new Lord trying to do the right thing?" She asked, sounding incredibly offended at the very thought.

"Yep. That's your new reputation, a real helper."

"This is horrible! How did this happen?"

"They're wizards, that's how it happened. Besides, you got exactly what you wanted didn't you? Parkinson humiliated and married off to some foreign French wizard and you'll never have to see her again. With the bonus of stuffing it in her face for the next year until she leaves." Grace added on in a thoughtful tone as they hurried into a carriage. The two second years in the carriage gave them wide-eyed looks that they both ignored as they settled in.

"Sure it worked out in my favour but it turns out that it wasn't even because of me! I wanted that b-witch to suffer and never know why." Hermione continued, curbing her language in the face of the younger students.

"I think you've accomplished that. No one knows who sent the pictures."

"Except her father and, em, the other Lord."

"Well sure, but they'd never say anything. For starters it's an embarrassment to both their Houses and secondly Lord, eh, Ma-son would have to publicly thank you for your good deed."

"He would?" Hermione asked in confusion.

Grace nodded. "He would."

"So that's why he said...what he said?"

"You're still a mu-thing and he'll never be the type to come right out and say thank-you because he also doesn't want to acknowledge that you might have helped him."

"Which means he'll ignore it."

"Yep. Course," Grace said slowly as a smile grew on her face, "that doesn't mean you can't hint at it. He didn't repay the favour like em, the other Lord did with the wedding, so he might technically still be indebted to you despite his horrible attempts at thanking you."

"And I could cash it in?"

"Theoretically." Grace nodded. "But I think you'd need to know a bit more before starting to ask for favours because that smells like blackmail."

One of the second years squeaked in surprise and Grace startled, having quite forgotten they were even there since they had been so quiet. "Not that she would, you know. Because that's all sorts of illegal. Don't do blackmail kids." Grace said weakly as Hermione giggled madly into the palm of her hand. "Why do I even try?" She lamented. The second year next to her patted her softly on her arm in commiseration.

\---******---

"What are you going to do now?" Ginny asked quietly as she, Luna, and Hermione sat together in the library.

It had been three days into the new term and Grace had been lucky enough to have Potions on a Friday. Before she'd left the cottage, she had the sudden inspiration that the children of teachers were generally not allowed to grade their own children's work because of bias. This made her think that if what she did wasn't going to be graded by Snape, perhaps she could either self-study or get a tutor for the rest of the year. She was feeling particularly relieved she had thought of that before because since she had come back all any anyone had done was gossip about Snape being her father and James Courting her. Frankly, it had been a mess of a three days and she had used her wand far more often than in any year previously. Hexing people was fun.

Grace sighed deeply as she sat back in her chair and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, I wrote to the school board since I refuse to go back to class-"

"You did?" Hermione interrupted in surprise. Grace glared at her until she meeped out a 'sorry'.

"I got a letter yesterday where they told me I could self-study since anything Snape would grade would have to be double checked anyway for any kind of favouritism, so because I'm essentially cutting out the middle man, that I can do whatever I like as long as I still do the work and hand it in on time. They told me it was probably wise for me, seeing what my grades where before, to get a tutor if I wanted to pass."

The three girls sat in silence as they took that in.

"Does that mean we could do it?" Ginny asked thoughtfully.

"Is Snape your father too?" Grace remarked blandly.

"Merlin no." Ginny said with a shiver of horror. "I meant the self-study part. Is that allowed for all students?"

"I looked it up." Grace said and glared at Hermione again when she looked surprised. "I do that, you know." She snarked.

"Once in a blue moon." Hermione snarked right back. "I'm allowed to be surprised when you do things you normally avoid like Voldemort, you know."

They glared at each other while Ginny looked from one girl to the other and Luna looked serenely around them.

"Riiiigggghhht. Back to the important bit. Self study?"

Grace grunted. "No. You have to prove he's got it in for you or have a valid enough reason that would require self study."

"Like what?"

"Sucking so badly at potions that you need a tutor and the tutor clashes with the teachings of the professor. Or that you're too sick to go so you're behind in class and it's just smarter to self-study until you get caught up."

"So if I prove that he hates my guts and grades me unfairly then I can self-study?" Ginny asked thoughtfully.

"Don't even try it." Grace snorted. "To prove that you have to get the school board involved and we all know how that goes."

"Malfoy." They all stated grimly.

"Fucking favouritism at its finest."

"I can't believe he's your father." Ginny said with a shake of her head.

"Neither can I and I have to bloody live with it."

"Have you decided what you're going to do next? With Snape I mean." Hermione asked.

"Meh." Grace answered with a shrug. "The usual really. Ignore him until he goes away."

"Has that ever worked?" Luna asked with real interest.

"There's got to be a first for everything right? Might as well be now. How's Ron doing?" Grace asked tentatively.

Hermione and Ginny both rolled their eyes as Luna frowned at her. "You'd think Snape was his father the way he's gone on about it." Ginny scoffed. "Plus side, you don't have to worry about him asking permission because now if he wants it he has to go to Snape."

"Still in an exclusive contract." Grace pointed out. "He wouldn't be able to even if he tried."

"He doesn't know that." Ginny pointed out. "I know he's my brother and I love him, but I can't remember when he turned into such a prat."

"He has his moments." Grace said quietly, not noticing the other girls gaping at her and exchanging baffled looks.

"Right." Ginny said slowly. "On a different note, there have been a lot of rumours flying about."

"You know,” Grace said slowly as she thought back, “a fifth year Hufflepuff came up to me just now and asked me if it was true that Snape sold me to muggles since he couldn't love me anymore after the death of his 'one true love'."

"Oh, you got one of the tamer ones." Hermione scoffed.

"Tamer? That's tame? Do I want to know this?"

"Absolutely!" Ginny cackled madly while Luna nodded happily.

"Not! Absolutely not! It won't do you any good." Hermione objected immediately even as she shushed Ginny and her exuberance.

"Might be entertaining though." Luna replied with an odd look Grace's way

"Ah fuck, ok, give it to me. I've got the mind-healer in a few and if it's anything more disturbing than what I've already heard, then I can just tell her." Grace decided after Luna spoke.

“Yes!” Ginny hissed out triumphantly, sticking her tongue out at Hermione who rolled her eyes and aggressively turned the page of her book. “I've only heard a handful, mind, but there was one that has you fighting with Snape because of your love for Potter.”

“When? When I was a baby?” Grace asked in confusion. “Or is that because they just found out about our Contract?”

“They're rumours, they hardly ever make sense.” Hermione butted in.

“Don't be silly.” Ginny said blithely. “Now, as in Snape hates Potter so he's ultimatum-ing you so you have to choose.”

“Huh. I could actually see that happening.”

“Then there's the one that Snape is going to kill you so he can resurrect your mother.”

“Oh gross! “

“Or the one where Snape and Potter are fighting over who's going to be your father and you chose Potter but took it too far and now you're in an incestuous relationship.”

“No accounting for taste.” Luna stated sadly. “My favourite is the one where Snape tried to sacrifice you to the Dark Lord when you were a baby to save Lily but James got in the way and saved you, which is the reason he was pushed through time so he could save you again from Snape and the Dark Lord.” Stunned silence followed as Luna finished.

“That's...almost romantic.” Ginny said as she slowly nodded.

Grace cleared her throat. “Yeah, I'm going to see the mind-healer now. “

“Probably for the best.” Hermione said as she turned back to her paper. “See you at dinner?”

“If I even make it that far.” Grace scoffed. “I'll probably see you lot back here.”

“Good luck!” Ginny and Luna called out before getting shushed violently by Madam Pince.

Dumbledore had kindly owled her yesterday and told her the room and time she should meet the mind-healer, but Grace still wondered why she was bothering. She still didn't quite feel like she wanted or needed this right now, and it would only cause more problems than it would solve. She had nothing against mind-healers, and she was fully prepared to possibly going to one after she had defeated Voldemort, it was simply that now wasn't the time. So when she walked into the room that held a potential mind-healer, she had already come to the conclusion to not divulge any sort of information that would delay her departure from Hogwarts.

“Grace Black-Gryffindor?” An auburn haired witch in her late thirties asked, holding out her hand and smiling kindly at Grace. Grace nodded, giving a barely there smile in return as they shook hands.

“That's me.”

“Albus wanted me to assure you that everything about these sessions is completely confidential. I've taken an oath, on top of the ethical oath I took when I became a mind-healer.”

“That's reassuring.” Grace said with a more genuine smile.

“Please, sit.” The woman said as she pointed towards one of the chairs. “My name is healer Natalie and today we're only going into the basics.”

“The basics of what?”

“What you need from me, what your intentions are for these sessions, and what you hope to gain, that sort of thing.”

“So no...mind healing?” Grace questioned, feeling confused and off balance.

Natalie laughed softly. “Not today. We're just introducing today. Besides, I don't think you'll notice the mind-healing until we've gone in quite a bit.”

“Gone in where?”

“That's for you to tell me.” Natalie replied. Seeing Grace's confused look, she elaborated. "I can't make you talk about anything you don't want to. I'm here because Albus, Headmaster Dumbledore, indicated you had requested to see a mind-healer. I'm here for you, anything you'd like to tell me, anything you need to share or talk about. That's my job here."

“You're here to listen to me.” Grace parroted with a heavy dose of suspicion. “Just listen? You're not going to tell me what to do, what to say, how to act?”

“Not part of my job. I can give you advice if you'd like it, but that doesn't happen often. I'm here to help you give a place to the things in your life that are bothering you.”

“What does that mean?”

Natalie hummed in thought. “Let me put it like this. Say you were out walked and a wizard petrified you, took one of your hairs for a polyjuice potion and proceeded to rob a store. Would that leave a mark on you?”

“Dunno, did he hurt me?”

“I didn't mean physically.” Natalie corrected with a smile. “I meant, would it bother you for a while after that? Would you become paranoid when you left the house? Would you be more aware of your surroundings when you did leave the house? Would you even feel safe in your house?”

“And that's where you come in. You're here to make sure those feelings don't get out of hand.” Grace guessed.

“Feelings don't come in boxes of 'too much' or 'too little', they just are. I'm here to give those feelings focus.”

“So if I told you that someone I was very close to was murdered...?”

“I'd have to ask you for more details than that, unless this is a hypothetical. Is it?”

“No.” Grace said hesitantly. “But I'm not sure I really want to talk about either.”

“Which is why this is just an introduction between yourself and me. We don't have to go into anything today, but I will warn you that if you decide to continue with me that we will be talking about it next time we see each other.”

“Why wouldn't I continue on with you?”

“You need someone you can trust and someone you can connect to. If you don't trust me then this won't work, likewise if we don't connect.”

“Like, personality wise?”

Natalie nodded. “Sometimes. Every mind-healer works just a little different. Some push more than others and some have a harder hand than others might, and some prefer a softer touch. You need to find someone that works with you and that person doesn't have to be me.”

“When do I decide that? Is that what I'm doing now as well?”

Natalie laughed, her eyes turning soft as they crinkled in the corners. “You don't have to do anything at all. Like I said, just an introduction. It could as many as ten sessions until you decide that my methods don't work for you, and that's perfectly fine. This is about you and your needs, not me.”

Grace leaned back in her chair a little stunned. “And if I don't want anything at all?”

Natalie hesitated. “I don't know your situation so it would be hard for me to say anything, but even from the little you have said I would have to recommend to Albus you at least try with another mind-healer.”

“Why?”

“The death of anyone close to you has a profound effect on you, whether you realize it or not. When that person was taken from you in such a violent manner...” Natalie trailed off. “It's not something that is easily dealt with.”

“Have you ever been on the other side?”

“As a patient you mean? Yes I have. When I was seventeen my father died.” She said sadly but with a kind smile.

“So when you said that, you meant it personally? The thing about working through it on your own not being the greatest way of handling things?”

“Oh no, not at all. I was quite the stubborn teenager. I was convinced mind-healers didn't know anything!” Natalie laughed. “I was also someone who thought a lot more than expressed. I worked through quite a lot on my own. Right after the death of my father I had a long period of time where whenever a family member left the house, I had to physically stop myself from dragging them back in since I was convinced I would never see them again.”

Grace looked aghast at her. “That's normal?!” She asked in shock.

Natalie chuckled at her. “Grief, in all its forms, is always normal. There is no right or wrong way to deal with the death of a loved one. There are bad coping methods, perhaps, but we all do what we have to get by, which is where a mind-healer could help.”

“And you're over it now?” Grace asked, wincing at the callous way it sounded knowing she had never really gotten over the death of her parents, however singular that may be now.

“Death of a loved one is not something you ever get over.” Natalie said with a knowing look. “That's enough talk about me, however, and not quite what I was hoping to express.”

“Because you hated mind-healers but became one anyway?” Grace joked, hoping to lighten the mood.

“Because I need you to know that whatever you want to work through is something we can work through. I just need you to want that as well.”

“Meaning what?” Grace asked, suddenly suspicious.

“Meaning I can tell when people are reluctant, and you are very reluctant. I'd like to finish our session here with a little homework for you.”

“Homework? I get homework too?” Grace whined, trying not to do it too much, even as put out as she felt.

“Not in the way you think. I want you to really think if this is for you, if I am the right person for you. I want, when we see each other again, for you to have come to a decision about these sessions.”

“If I want to continue at all and if I want to continue with you in particular?”

“Precisely.”

“Despite you just telling me I don’t have to decide anything.” Grace pointed out.

“I said you didn’t have to decide in this session. For the next one, however, it would be a good idea for you to decide if you’re willing to give these sessions and myself the green light.”

Grace let out an exaggerated sigh, a smile slipping through without her consent. “I suppose that's reasonable.”

“That's all I ask.” Natalie said with a smile as she stood up and held out her hand. Grace stood up and shook it before turning to the door at the clear dismissal. “Until next time, Grace.”

“See you Natalie.” Grace replied, feeling both lighter and heavier at the same time.

She still wasn't sure about the whole mind-healing thing, but Natalie might be ok. Maybe she was right when she said that some people need more than one session to decide what they really wanted, because right now Grace didn't feel like she had enough information to work with, despite everything they had already talked about.

She'd give it one more go, she decided. She might change her mind later but Natalie had said that was more than all right and even if she didn't do anything with that at all, it would prove to James that she had at least tried.

\---******---

Grace, having grown tired of the extensive stares and whispers where ever she went, decided she needed a break. She left the tower behind with a mumbled excuse about going to the library to a distracted Hermione and spent the next ten minutes deep in thought of where she actually wanted to go. The library was clearly out because, for one, she didn't feel like doing any sort of homework despite bringing her bag with her (alibi's were necessary around Hermione!), and two, she didn't feel like sitting still and reading. Going outside was a terrible idea since it was all rain and snow and slush and she was cold enough as it was. Which left the rest of the castle.

She could find the come and go room, she decided suddenly. She was only on the third floor so that left her four floors to decide what she wanted from the room. Then again, she could always go to the kitchens and let herself become overwhelmed by house-elves for a bit. Dobby would be thrilled. Just as she passed by Myrtle's bathroom, she heard a faint sob and froze. That was definitely someone crying in there, should she help? Grace knew she was pants at helping though, so she really didn't want to go in there. But if she didn't, she might feel horrible about it all day. After all, if she hadn't gone back for Hermione, who knows what would have happened?

Decision made, she backtracked and cautiously opened the bathroom door, stepping inside the bathroom and looking around in trepidation before confused eyes landed on Malfoy. What the fuck was he doing in a girl's bathroom? Before she could do much more than gape, the door closed behind her with enough noise that it alerted Malfoy to her presence. A mean, twisted look appeared on his face as he sneered at her.

"Potter." He spat.

"Malfoy." She said back, not sure exactly what was going on anymore. "Are you...what are you doing in here?"

"What do you care? Came in here to make fun of me did you?"

"Erm, what? This is a girl's bathroom."

"Bet you're just waiting to tell all your little friends about poor Malfoy and how he was bawling his eyes out, how pathetic."

"What the hell is happening?" Grace mumbled to herself in mild shock.

"I won't let you." He snarled at her as he drew his wand.

Grace's eyes doubled in size and her heart started racing as he raised his wand and started to cast something. In the quickest thinking she had ever done, she grabbed her bag and threw it at him, the shock of his attack making her forget all about her wand. Malfoy looked surprised as her bag flew to him, instinctively grabbing for it instead of getting out of the way. It left Grace enough time to draw her wand as she ran after her bag, crashing into Malfoy and making them tumble heavily on the floor. She heard Malfoy scream out in rage as she oriented herself before she felt a hot flash on her left shoulder and she rolled away before jumping to her feet and shooting a cutting hex in the direction of his voice.

A cry of pain drew her eyes to Malfoy, perched over and holding his arms even as he turned to look at her. She raised her wand at the same time he threw a jinx her way, barely managing to put up a shield charm before it could hit her. She sent back a hex that he avoided by side stepping, something she did herself when he sent a spell her way that she had never heard of. Not knowing whether or not a shield charm could stop whatever he sent her, she ran to avoid it. Unluckily, she had forgotten about her bag and tripped over it, her wrist twisting on impact and making her roll over to alleviate the pain. She grit her teeth against the smarting of her wrist when she noticed Malfoy walk over to her, wand outstretched and an ugly sneer on his face.

"Looks like you won't come out of this one in one piece." He taunted meanly.

It was, she liked to think, a fortunate side effect of her upbringing that she knew how to fight dirty when it really counted. Malfoy, who had grown up knowing only how to use magic to fight, was probably far less likely to know how to defend himself against a physical attack. Hoping this was the case, she lashed out and kicked him in his kneecap. His scream of pain and doubling over gave her enough time to reach him and punch him in the gut.

"Who's losing now, you fucking-" Grace started before he ran at her and tackled her, throwing them both down on the floor again but this time Grace recovered quickly and drew her elbow back and smashing it in his face.

He rolled off of her with a grunt of pain only he managed to use his position to kick out at her, hitting her solidly on her upper thigh. It burned harshly, ignored quickly in favour of scrambling closer to Malfoy and trying to kick his dick. Malfoy's eyes grew large at the direction of her kick and quickly protected himself causing her kick to hit his hand instead of it's intended target. Incensed, she threw out another punch and managed to connect with his nose seconds before his own punch connected with her jaw. They fell away from each other and lay down, panting slightly as she tested if he had actually managed to break anything.

“You bitch!” Malfoy moaned through his hands.

Grace looked over at him, holding his nose as blood seeped through his fingers. “Serves you right you tosser! What the fuck is your problem?”

“You're the one with the problem! What kind of witch doesn't use a bloody wand?”

“The smart kind, you idiot! You were trying to curse me!”

“Because you were going to tell everyone!”

“Tell everyone _what_?! You're delusional! I don't even fucking know what's going on and you went completely mad on me!”

Malfoy seemed affronted at that kicked his foot out at her, only glancing her leg. She narrowed her eyes at him and kicked him back, barely hitting him before he reached out and tried to hit her with the same result. Incensed, Grace scooted closer and hit him. Malfoy squeaked through his still bloody nose before narrowing his eyes at her and hitting her back. Which, naturally, meant she hit back and before either of them knew it they were hitting and slapping each other, using their feet to try and get the other one away from them with little success.

"Stop it!"

"You stop it!"

"You started it!"

"You're the one who pulled out his wand!"

"You're the one who ran into me!"

"Stop hitting me!"

"Then you stop hitting me!"

"Bloody hell! GRACE! STOP IT!" Malfoy bellowed at her.

"YOU STOP IT!" Grace yelled back.

They slowed down as the hits became weak slaps and made space between the their bodies so it was harder to connect, both of them panting and out of breath as they glared hatefully at each other.

"Can you never admit when you're wrong?"

"Who said I was wrong? You're the one who stuck her nose where it didn't belong."

"You're in a girl's bathroom! I thought there was a girl in here that needed help! I was trying to be nice."

"Your nice sucks."

"You suck."

Malfoy screamed in rage at her. "Why can't you just be normal?!"

Grace snorted. "Like you're normal? Is normal hiding out in girl's bathrooms and attacking the first girl that walks in there? I could have been going to the loo for all you know!"

"You weren't!"

"Like you'd know."

"Well did you?"

"I'm not going to tell you now! You attacked me and then told me it was all my fault!"

Glaring at each other they both fell into an angry silence, broken only when one of them would lash out and try and hit the other, a weak attempt that made them feel better rather than any attempt to start fighting again.

"So what are you doing in here?" Grace asked some time later, breathing in deeply to calm her racing heart as she flopped back onto the floor, the fight having left her some time ago but was only willing to give in once she tired.

Malfoy waited so long to answer her, she was sure he was going to ignore her. "I tried to kill Dumbledore." He finally announced.

"You-WHAT? How is that even-how did you-what is happening?" Grace stuttered out shocked.

"He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Malfoy started hesitantly. "He...he tried to mark me during Yule."

"Fuck." She whispered harshly, throwing her head back against the tiled floor enough to make it hurt. "_Fuck_." She uttered again with more feeling.

"Father managed to stop him but he wanted a show of loyalty."

"So Dumbledore." Grace sighed out, knowing how logical Voldemort was.

"It shouldn't have been something so big, so..."

"Impossible that it could only fail?" Grace finished for him.

Malfoy nodded before dragging himself to the wall and propping himself up. "He's angry with father and when I fail he will have an excuse to take it out on my family."

"What about the raids?"

"Are you asking if we were a part of that?"

Grace hesitated before pushing herself up on all four's and crawling over to the wall Malfoy was leaning against and plopped herself down next to him. "No. And yes. There's only so much you can do before he starts to notice that you lot are ducking out of things that could implicate you, especially if your father's as high up in the ranking as I think he is."

Malfoy nodded as he stared at the stalls opposite them. "He was called into the Ministry and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named thought it would benefit him if father went."

"He got lucky." Grace surmised with a silent sigh, knowing that Lucius Malfoy had not always been lucky and the deaths and torture at his hands were far longer and more gruesome than anyone would imagine.

"I can't fail Grace." Malfoy whispered brokenly. "I can't. I don't know what he'd do to my parents if I don't succeed but I know it will be bad. They're all I have, I have to do this."

Grace clenched her jaw and looked up at the ceiling as tears threatened to fall. "I know." She whispered back. "How long did he give you?"

Malfoy cleared his throat. "End of the year."

"Fuck's sake." Grace moaned. "Do you have a plan?"

"Yes. Kill Dumbledore."

Grace dropped her head to the side and shot Malfoy a look. "A real plan."

Malfoy shrugged. "Kill Dumbledore."

"I thought you were clever?"

"I will hurt you."

"I'll hurt you back, now shut up while I think."

"Think of what?"

"A way out."

"You...you'd help me? Us? Even after everything?" Malfoy asked softly, doubt and hope so clearly in his voice it made her uncomfortable.

"We're only children." She said instead. "We're not supposed to be in this at all and one adult after the other keeps using us as pawns. So if I can help those who want out, who don't want anything to do with the war then yes, I'll help."

"How do you know this isn't a trick?"

"Because you've been trying to be nice to me since James came back, long before Voldemort turned his beady snake eyes your way."

Malfoy flinched at the name but nodded. "It's nice to know that despite everything you're still trying to be the Gryffindor hero."

"Ulg." Grace complained as she rolled her eyes. "Just when I was starting to like you. Take the fucking compliment Malfoy."

"That was a compliment? How was that a compliment? And you swear like a dragon tamer, stop it. It's unbecoming of someone of your status."

"Don't tell me what to do nob head."

"It's like talking to a brick wall." Malfoy muttered.

Grace leaned her head back against the wall and watched silently as Malfoy slowly took inventory of his aches and pains. He groaned softly when he poked his bleeding arm and winced when he checked his nose, but otherwise left well enough alone. Likely, since Grace was planning the same thing, leaving it all to Madam Pomfrey to fix up.

The real question was whether or not she could actually do anything to help him. Logically and realistically she had no way of knowing that what Malfoy wanted was the same things his parents wanted. They had been in Voldemort's service for decades at the very least, who was to say they wanted to give that up? And despite her assurances that it wasn't a trap, she couldn't help but wonder if it was. Malfoy luring her into a false sense of security before turning on her would seem to fit more than the Malfoy's walking away from Voldemort because junior didn't want to get marked. As devoted followers, wouldn't that be the highest praise? Your leader wanting your child to be a part of his organization? That he found your child worthy of his cause? So what was the right thing to do? Trust the words and guard her back or trust that he was lying to her and make sure she was covered for all eventualities?

"Heard you've been having some parental problems." Malfoy said after a long silence where they both mopped up their blood as much as possible.

Grace made an attempt to shrug. "He's...Snape. Who the fuck knows what he wants. Half the time he tries to actually talk to me and the other half he seems to just want to scream at me for existing. I regret ever saying anything."

Malfoy chuckled wetly. "I wish I had your problems."

"Yeah." Grace said sarcastically. "I'm sure you'd love having a crazy psychotic murderer trying to kill you because he fucked up the first time around and is determined to do it better this time around. Not to even mention the Dursley's or your parents not being your parents, never knowing you were magical, or all the fucked up shit that's happened to me since I bloody came to this stupid school." Grace huffed out angrily, tears spilling out despite her best efforts to stop them. "Sometimes I miss being a muggle. Life was a lot less complicated."

"Alright, you win." Draco replied after a short silence.

"It's not about winning you idiot." Grace huffed. "It's sharing."

"I don't like your sharing." Draco remarked softly. "Who are the Dursley's?"

"Muggles." She said shortly. Malfoy gave her a look but took the hint and dropped it, letting the silence fall between them as they both caught their breaths and pulled themselves together. Madam Pomfrey was going to have a field day with her.

"So what do we do?"

"'We'? Who's this 'we'? When did we become a 'we'?"

"You said you'd help."

"I also said you were an idiot."

"Grace." Malfoy said tiredly.

"It's going to take more than a few minutes you know. We have to plan, we need contingencies, safe houses, ways for your parents not to get murdered or tracked via Death Eater mark."

"Alright, alright." Malfoy broke in. "I get it, it needs time. I just..."

"Need something more than my word." Grace said with a nod. "Right now it's enough but it won't be for long."

"Why do know things like that?"

Grace clenched her jaw. "Reasons that are none of your business."

Malfoy nodded slowly even as he kept watching her. "Shall we meet next week?"

"What? Here?"

The both looked around before turning back to each other. "Seems like no one else really likes coming here."

"True enough." Grace as her shoulders dropped. "Alright. I'll do some quiet asking around; see what I can dig up. Can you maybe look into the mark? See if you can't learn anything about it that might hurt your parents if, say, they defected?"

Malfoy rubbed a hand over his eyes as he nodded slowly. "I don't know how much I'll get, but I can try."

"It won't matter how far we put your parents out of the way if he can kill them without having to touch them." Grace remarked thoughtfully before looking at Malfoy's even paler face and wincing. Maybe it hadn't been the best time to point that out yet, what with them both still covered in blood and bruises.

"So. A week then."

"Yeah, let's stick with a week to start."

Malfoy nodded before clearing his throat and giving her an oddly constipated look. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell Lord Potter about any of this." He said as he waved his hand around the room.

"You want me to keep it quiet that your life and your parents lives are in jeopardy?" Grace asked a little shocked.

Malfoy winced. "No, he'd find that out on his own. I mean this, us fighting. Me drawing blood."

"I drew blood too."

"Yes, well, I highly doubt Astoria would kill you for it." He mumbled.

"Kill you? Why would he kill you?"

He turned to look at her, an emotion flashing across her face too quickly for her to recognize before he was shaking his head and walking towards the door. "Let's just say that Lord Potter has never liked seeing you hurt."

And well, that was true enough wasn't it? Not to mention what he'd do if he heard that she had been alone with Malfoy in a bathroom. "Probably best he doesn't know about this part." She conceded.

"Shall we?"

"Hey, before we go." Grace started as she fished out a white card from her pocket that she had gotten into the habit of carrying with her. "Do you know what this is?" She asked as she handed it over to Malfoy, who took it from her with a slight frown before it cleared up when he saw what it was.

"My father has loads of those. If you have one, he probably gave it to you."

"So the Lord Council isn't a thing?"

"Oh no, it's a thing, but it used to be a thing. They disbanded after the first war when the divide amongst them caused them too many problems. Half the members turned out to be Death Eaters which isn't exactly the point the Council."

"So why did your father give me this then?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Probably to ask for help."

Grace tried not to let her jaw drop. "How in the bloody hell was I ever supposed to figure that out?! Why didn't he just say something like a normal person, Merlin!"

Malfoy smirked at her. "And you would have listened to him, would you? Besides, what grown man would ever go over to a teenager and ask for help without it sounding sordid? Not to mention the political and social ramifications once it came out that House Malfoy couldn't deal with their own problems."

"Fucking Purebloods." She cursed darkly. "So this isn't him trying to recruit me or anything?"

Malfoy shook his head. "Probably his way of making you more aware of the things happening around you so you could solve his problems for him without him ever having to ask or insert himself into danger. Probably his way of trying to get us all out of this mess before it got as bad as it did."

"You just said he was asking for help, not have me clean up his mess."

"Same thing." Malfoy said with a half shrug. "Malfoy's don't ask for help."

"Yes." Grace said with a pointed nod to his bloody arm and her torn up shoulder. "I did get that hint, thanks."

\---******---

"James." Albus stated, a polite smile on his lips that had James blinking in suspicion. "You wanted a meeting?"

"I did." He stated slowly as he surveyed Albus more closely than he usually would have. Something had changed.

"I daresay it has something to do with Grace." Albus prompted when he stayed silent.

"Hm, in a manner of speaking." James allowed as he shook his head and got back on track. "Grace and I have been speaking over the Yule holidays. She's been feeling more comfortable with me and has been divulging a bit of information about her past."

"And it worried you." Albus nodded.

"Naturally, but that's not quite why I've come to see you. She told me something rather alarming not too long ago. A tale of a young boy growing up in an orphanage before learning about magic." If he hadn't been paying attention, James was sure to have missed how rigid Albus became before going lax.

"She's told you about Tom then." Albus deduced with a nod. "I had hoped she would keep that to herself."

James raised an eyebrow. "After telling her she could share the information with her friends? That's rather hypocritical of you Albus.” James tilted his head in consideration. “I'm afraid that's not quite why I'm here. I'm here because she told me something rather alarming about horcruxes."

Before James could even blink, there was a wand tucked gently but menacingly under his chin. Between one moment and the next he understood how massively he had put his foot in it. Albus, unlike Voldemort, wasn't someone to play with. He was stronger, faster despite his age, and more of an adversary than Voldemort ever was because he was sane and cunning. Albus was a true general who saw the whole board and was five steps ahead of all the players. James had underestimated him, underestimated how closely he would be watching Grace and as a result, himself.

"A little violent perhaps, Albus?" James stated casually, eyeing the wand holding him still.

Albus narrowed his eyes. "I'm afraid, James, that my reaction is very much warranted at the moment. You possess information that none other should have."

"Except you, of course, and Grace."

"I'm not feeling charitable today James. I must insist on your cooperation."

James inclined his head minutely, careful of the threat at his neck. "Naturally. Anything to help soothe your suspicions."

"I take that to mean you would have no problems taking a small dose of veritaserum?"

"None. Although I would request some tea, for after."

Albus nodded and, his wand still pointing at James, bent down to open a drawer in his desk to retrieve a small vial. It looked like water but James knew better than to underestimate the effects of the potion. When Albus got nearer, he stuck out his tongue and waited for those three drops to hit his tongue, swallowing quickly and wrinkling his nose at the sharp taste before his world went a little fuzzy. He was aware of Albus settling himself across from him, peering into his eyes and demanding answers to base questions to determine whether or not he was truly under.

"How do you possess the information about horcruxes?"

"Grace informed me."

"Is Grace Black-Gryffindor the only person you have spoken to about them?"

"No."

"Who are the other people?"

"Albus Dumbledore."

"Any others?"

"No."

"Could anyone else know of horcruxes without your knowledge?"

"Yes." He heard Albus grumble, clearly having understood what he was asking.

"Have you informed other people of the existence of Voldemort's horcruxes without outright telling them?"

"No."

"Are you planning on telling other people?"

"No."

"Are you loyal to Voldemort?"

"No."

"Are you loyal to Albus Dumbledore?"

"No." There was a long pause after that one and he understood Albus' hesitation. A man with no ties was far more dangerous than one with. He seemingly had no personal investment in the outcome of the war and that would cause problems in the long run.

"Are you loyal to Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"Are you Courting Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"Do you love Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"Yes."

"What are your intentions with Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"To keep her safe."

"Would you betray Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"No."

"Would you betray Albus Dumbledore in favour of Grace Black-Gryffindor?"

"Yes." Albus didn't pause after his answer, seemingly already knowing what James would answer.

"Will you keep the information about horcruxes to yourself if asked by Albus Dumbledore?"

"Possibly."

"What would you require to keep the information to yourself?"

"Grace's safety."

"Are you willing to put Grace Black-Gryffindor's life in danger in order to keep her safe?"

" Possibly."

"What would change your answer?"

"If Grace's safety was guaranteed."

"Would you align with Albus Dumbledore to keep Grace Black-Gryffindor safe?"

"Yes."

"Would you betray Grace Black-Gryffindor to Voldemort to keep her safe?"

"No."

"Are you currently colluding with Voldemort?"

"No."

"Were you aligned with Voldemort in the last war?"

"No."

"Were you a spy for Voldemort in the last war?"

"No."

"Were you a part of the organization The Order of the Phoenix in the last war?"

"Yes."

"Were you married to Lily Evans?"

"Yes."

"Did you love Lily Evans?"

"No."

"Did you know her baby was not yours?"

"Yes."

"Did Sirius Black know that Lily Evan's baby was not yours?"

"Yes."

"Did Remus Lupin know that Lily Evan's baby was not yours?"

"No."

"Did Peter Pettigrew know that Lily Evan's baby was not yours?"

"No."

"Did Severus Snape know that Lily Evan's baby was not yours?"

"Yes."

"Did Severus Snape know that he was the father of Lily Evan's baby?"

"I don't know."

"Were you made aware of Severus Snape's knowledge concerning the parentage of Lily Evan's baby?"

"Yes."

"Did Lily Evans love you?"

"No."

"Did you withhold the truth of Severus Snape's parentage from him?"

"No."

"Did you Obliviate Severus Snape's memory of his parentage of Lily Evan's baby?"

"No."

"Did you know Severus Snape was Oblivated of the memories concerning Lily Evan's baby?"

"No."

"Did you know of the animosity between Severus Snape and Sirius Black?"

"Yes."

"Did you encourage Sirius Black's hatred of Severus Snape?"

"No."

"Could Sirius Black have Obliviated Severus Snape?"

"Yes."

"What ritual did you use jump forwards in time?"

"None."

"How did you jump forwards in time?"

"I died."

There was a long pause after this question and James wasn't cognitively there long enough to understand exactly what Albus was doing other than looking at him intently. That was the end of the rather long list of questions that were thrown his way since his head was tipped back and his mouth opened. He felt three drops of the anti-dote on his tongue before he reflexively swallowed it down.

"Well." James said after he had ingested the antidote, his tongue feeling thick and dry. "That was a rather unpleasant experience. I had no idea an interrogation would be on the agenda for today."

"It could not be helped." Albus stated, as far as he was willing to apologize without ever saying the words. James rather doubted he was sorry at all, not with the direction his questions had taken. If nothing else, Albus was a man of extreme caution and using every method he had on hand to win.

"And where does that currently leave us?" James asked as he accepted the cup of tea Albus handed him.

"I do not want you involved, James." Albus stated as James took a sip and sighed inaudibly at how soothing it felt on his throat.

"Yet I refuse to let you get Grace involved. She's had more than her fair share of horrors to deal with over her lifetime, don't you think? You were, after all, the one who went out and got her a mind-healer."

"Yes, to help her deal with the death of a loved one."

"Which one?" James asked sharply. "Isn't it simply horrible that you have to clarify which death you mean? Doesn't that tell you more than enough? I'm not willing to let you drag Grace into another of your hair brained schemes that make her think she should be the one leading this war."

"And if she needs to be?"

"What sixteen year old child would ever need to lead an army?" James countered.

"It's not that simple James."

"It is if you want it to be Albus. I won't let you pull her further into this mess. You can keep showing her memories, give her hints that may well help, but putting her life on the line for possibilities where you haven't a clue of what you're walking into? I must put my foot down Albus."

"What would you prefer then?"

"That I join you. I have more experience than Grace, I understand Voldemort better, and I daresay I know how to handle whatever comes our way.” Albus seemed unconvinced so James switched tactics. “All right. A proposal. I understand that you are close to finding one. I suggest I come with you to find and destroy this evil and if you don't disapprove of me completely then we go on to the next one."

"Grace will stay out of the loop I assume."

James sighed lightly as he turned his head towards the window. "No." He said eventually. "That will only backfire on us both. We tell her the facts and what we are doing, but only after the job is done."

"Better to ask for forgiveness than permission?"

"It has nothing to do with either. It's about keeping her safe. If she knows we are out there putting our lives on the line then she'll likely try and join us to keep us safe. Better she knows of only it after it's done and over with."

Albus studied him for a long moment before he gave a quick nod. "There is one that I was hoping Grace would accompany me on. Given your rather extreme protectiveness of Grace, I would consider having you join me. As a trial run."

"It would seem less extreme if everyone else was as worried for her health and safety as I was." James said, smiling genially when Albus turned his sharp eyes on him. "Why would you offer that, especially knowing that you don't trust me?"

"I believe you have different motivations than we do." Albus stated carefully. "The end goal remains a mutual: protecting Grace by making sure Voldemort is no longer a threat."

"That may be my motivation, but I sincerely doubt it's yours."

"Perhaps. Or perhaps I know enough about you and what drives you to know that in this, I can trust you."

"And that's enough for you?"

"For now. Shall we?" He asked instead, gesturing to the door. "We can't apparate inside Hogwarts." He added when he saw James' questioning look.

"Of course not." James conceded as he walked out the door and down the spiral staircase as Albus followed on his heels.

They made their way in near silence to the gates of Hogwarts, interrupted only by a few running students who were clearly late for their next class. Albus held out his arm that James took without hesitation, feeling the tug of apparition almost immediately. They landed by the seaside, somewhere high up on the cliffs with the wind whipping fiercely around them. He had never imagined that wind could be loud but the way it was wailing around him made it difficult to hear anything else, even the water crashing on the rocks below.

"Albus!" He yelled, his voice coming out far softer despite the power he put into it. "Albus!" He yelled again when the man gave no indication of hearing him. This time he did turn.

"Yes?"

"What are we doing here?"

"Follow me." The man stated instead and James clenched his fists in order to calm himself.

He took a deep, cold breath of air and trudged after Albus, walking cautiously behind as it became clear the they were making their way down part of the cliff. Instead of asking questions James focused on not falling, the terrain rough and unyielding, each step on a jagged and wet rock that could mean his end. It was hard to imagine anyone coming here, let alone trying this very route as some sort of adventure. He had no idea how long it took but they finally came upon a rock face, seemingly unable to go any further. A part of him was grateful for that since his very bones had turned to ice during their descent. He pulled out his wand and put a heating charm on himself, not willing to distract himself by succumbing to his baser needs when he needed to be solely focused on what Albus was doing.

The man in question was in fact staring at said wall with great interest. James knew better than to scoff, feeling the old wisps of magic but not knowing enough to decipher the meaning of each strand. Instead he watched closely as Albus hemmed and hawed, nodding and muttering to himself before his expression cleared and he pulled out a knife. James merely raised an eyebrow as Albus made a cut on his hand and pressed it to the wall.

"Rather crude." James muttered, thinking his words would be taken by the wind.

Albus turned to him and smiled, his serious eyes twinkling for the moment before they faded. "Tom is rather like that."

"Demanding payment, you mean? Or a show of loyalty?"

"Wanting his opponent weakened before their confrontation."

James frowned at that. "How would this weaken you?" He asked as they walked through the opened cave wall, the sound of the wind dying almost immediately as they continued. "It's a mere cut, easily healed when you know the right spell." James pointed out as Albus did just that.

"True." Albus conceded. "Tom doesn't quite think that way, however. He sees it as a weakness to even have to waste one's blood on something that trivial." He explained as he lit his wand and walked into the darkness ahead of them.

"Are you saying that he could have put something in the spell that would activate in the person's blood? What if you splashed animal blood as an offering instead? I don't think he thought through this very well."

"And it's not as if we have an animal handy at the moment either." Albus pointed out, a little gruffly. "And I daresay Tom would have prevented the use of apparition. He would have wanted us to weaken ourselves on the journey."

"But if we knew the spell, as you did find it, it would only be a matter of moments to walk back and apparate out, grab or buy an animal before apparating back and freeing the creature once we made use of it. That's only under the assumption that we couldn't apparate to this very point." James frowned in thought. "Actually, have you been here before?"

Albus shook his head. "This is the first time. Before Yule I went over some memories that included Tom from his time at the orphanage. Even then he was rather possessive of the things he owned and won."

"Trophies of his early victims." James guessed as Albus nodded, both of them slowly making their way down a worn and slippery path towards what looked like the edge of an underground lake.

"One of those memories included a trip to the seaside, where he tormented one of his fellow orphans. While the young boy never said anything, it was assumed something Tom did caused him to become withdrawn and frightened."

"You think this is the cave where the incident took place." James concluded with a nod as they came upon the edge of the water and noticed a thick chain protruding from the water.

Albus drew his wand once more and wove it around in a series of muttered enchantments before nodding and stowing his wand away.

"I'm afraid we must put in some physical labour this time." Albus said with a nod towards the chain as his wand illuminated the area around them.

"Another way to tire us?" James guessed as he leaned over and grabbed the chain firmly in his hands, pulling with all his might as he put one hand in front of the other. He slightly resented Albus who stood to the side and merely watched as he held his lit wand instead of helping, although soon enough the water broke with the emergence of a small boat, barely able to fit two grown men. The most remarkable thing, however, was the fact that the water hadn't been disturbed at all, the surface smooth and still and it alarmed James enough to wonder what sort of enchantment the water held and a silent reminder that it would be in his best interest not to touch it.

When the small boat was close enough for them to board, James stopped pulling. He waited until Albus was seated and steady before getting in himself, almost landing in the water when the boat tipped a bit too far to the left, only Albus' quick hands steadying him enough to stop the rocking before sitting down with a relieved sigh. Albus wasted no time before tapping the boat with his wand and suddenly they were moving.

With all the knowledge James felt he had on magic, of what he learned from his parents and relatives, he still felt like a child when it came to the knowledge Albus possessed. Then again, he reasoned to himself, it was probably easier to decipher the magic you needed when you knew the subject so intimately. How many people were still amongst the living knew that Voldemort was once the orphan named Tom Riddle? It probably also helped that Albus taught Tom Riddle and knew how his mind worked, how he thought and the conclusion he drew from every situation. James only ever enjoyed playing with Voldemort as a potential enemy, but Albus Dumbledore had always been a real threat to the rise of Voldemort. A young boy fearing an icon that he grew up knowing had power and knowledge that he only dreamed of having.

To distract himself from thinking too much about Voldemort and Albus, James took a moment to look around the cave. It was far larger than he had assumed upon entry, going up for kilometres if he had to guess, and smack in the centre was a small island that radiated a soft green glow. Knowing that colours rarely had any feelings, he couldn't help but feel this particular picture made up quite the menacing air and James knew that whatever it held was nothing good for the two of them. Looking over the unmoving water, he happened to glance down and froze when the light of Albus' wand illuminated several faces beneath the water's surface. They seemed almost peaceful, eyes closed as they floated by and James felt the first shiver of fear skitter down his spine.

"Albus." He whispered. "Is this lake filled with _dead bodies_?"

Albus, in turn, bent towards the water and used his wand to better light his vision, more bodies became illuminated and James felt sick. "It does seem that way." Albus remarked with distaste. "I can only assume that this means we are on the right path. Only Tom would think this would be an adequate deterrent."

"I'm feeling quite deterred, I assure you." James muttered to Albus who merely gave him a tight smile and then focused on their progress.

It occurred to James quite suddenly that this little trip of theirs was something that Albus had wanted to take with Grace. James whipped his head towards the man in question and, despite Albus not paying him any mind, scrutinized him. This man, this _great man_ revered for his beating and capturing of Gellert Grindewald, was willing to bring a _child_ into a situation so dangerous that a grown man was starting to fear for his own safety. James wasn't ashamed in any way to admit to that fear. He was in a large underground cave in a boat working on magic with the threat of death hanging prominently in the very air around him. To even imagine Grace in this very same situation made his blood boil in rage and that Albus would have no compunction bringing her made that rage incandescent.

The soft bump of the boat brought him temporarily out of the spiral of rage and he watched patiently as Albus stood and carefully went ashore, making sure to not touch the water. James followed his lead and by the time he had joined Albus at the centre of the small island, it seemed as if Albus had come to some conclusion of the situation. In the centre of the island stood a small stone basin, filled with what James could only deduce was some sort of potion. Either to burn or to torment, as Tom was known for doing. He watched as Albus picked up a cup, something that he had missed as James had focused on the basin itself and not the surroundings. Albus made to scoop up some of the liquid and James' arm shot out and grabbed Albus' forearm in a tight grip.

"What,” he started softly, “do you think you are doing?"

"What needs to be done."

"And you think the best method to do this is to leave me in the dark?"

Albus sighed even as he tipped his head in acknowledgement. "I believe the horcrux to be encased within the liquid and the only method of retrieving it would be to drink the liquid."

"Another method of weakening his opponents?" James asked as he let go of Albus' arm. "What would be the point unless he had or has some sort of alarm set on this place?"

"I believe he did." Albus stated thoughtfully. "I also believe, though I have no proof other than weakened magic, that this alarm has weakened severely over the years and that in Tom's current state he either wouldn't receive that warning or that that the warning wouldn't even reach him."

"That's quite the supposition considering our current situation. We are in the middle of a very dangerous setting and you want to believe that Tom may not receive a warning of our intentions?"

"It's the best we can hope for currently. Do you wish to discuss this more or shall we continue and hope we are not ambushed sooner rather than later?"

"Is there a reason we can't just fill the cup and pour it out?" James asked as he rolled his eyes.

Albus filled the cup and poured it out on the floor next to him, the liquid falling out and disappearing back into the basin before it hit the floor. "Satisfied?" He asked.

James sighed in aggravation but nodded his head. Albus took that as his cue and almost immediately filled the cup to the brim with potion and gulped it down in one. He shuddered heavily but filled the cup again only to drink it down quickly, repeating his actions as quickly as he could but with each downing of the potion, he was slumping down more and more. The potion was quite obviously quick acting and impossible to interpret whether it was causing only a physical reaction or also a mental one.

"Albus? You need to tell me what's happening." James demanded, as he hovered over the slumped figure before him. "_Albus!_" He shouted loudly to get the man's attention, his voice echoing around the chamber and making the situation all the more eerie.

"James." Albus stated weakly.

"Tell me what the potion is doing Albus. I can't help you if you don't tell me."

"Images. Memories. Horrible. Not my fault. My fault. I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. It was never supposed to be like this. I'm sorry!"

James huffed in aggravation. "That was less than helpful! Albus, tell me what it does! It gives you memories? Whose memories? Your memories? Memories of something terrible? What does it do? Albus!" James urged, only for Albus to grab his robes in a tight fist and pull him closer, his eyes temporarily cleared even as his body weakened further.

"You must force me to drink the potion." Albus ordered. "We have to get the object in case he has been alerted. This is our only opportunity James." He urged. "Force me to drink the potion to the point you can take the object."

"Not until you tell me what it does. I can't help you later if I don't know what it is! Don't throw your life away now, old man."

"It-memories, shows me the most horrible moments of my-images, memories-my past-did it on purpose." Albus mumbled incoherently as he filled the cup once more and drank it down.

James growled in frustration as he watched Albus crumble to the ground and start weeping, crying out for some woman to forgive him. What a mess. He watched in distaste as Albus continued to cry and grumbled as he looked around the small island. He could leave Albus here, it would only be a matter of time before the old man succumbed to the potion and there were very few witnesses who could put James at the scene with him. All they would know is that they saw James with the Headmaster before they left the school. For all that they knew he was escorting James out of Hogwarts. They could have gone to lunch, gone on a walk, before parting ways. Who would ever find the great Albus Dumbledore in the middle of a cave out in nowhere? Perhaps Voldemort if he was ever suspicious enough to check on his soul pieces, but James doubted that.

He looked into the basin again and clenched his teeth when he noticed the potion level was still too high for him to grab the object. He leaned down and wrenched the cup out of Albus' hand and filled it to the brim. He lifted Albus up enough that he could force the old man to drink, something that turned out to be rather difficult with him protesting that he didn't want anymore. James ordered him to drink it before dropping him down carelessly to fill the cup once more.

The rage he had tried to simmer earlier came back full force as he turned back to Albus once more and saw the pathetic creature he had become, weeping and begging for mercy from an apparition that didn't exist. Was this what he had wanted from Grace? Would he have forced her to drink the potion? Or would she have been traumatized by being the one to force Albus to drink the potion? Neither of those scenario’s made his temper any less, and for the sake of their mission it was best if he didn't think too long on it. Instead he strode back to Albus and forcefully grabbed the hair on the back of his head and wrenched him upright, almost forcing him to drink the cup until he started to drink on his own. This time, he simply collapsed, lifeless and James bellowed out in anger, clenching the cup in his hand with enough strength that it bent in his fist. He stared down at Albus with a level of fury he hadn't thought he could reach and pondered if it was worth it to even continue. He wanted desperately to leave the old wizard behind but practicality quickly simmered his rage.

The portraits in Albus' office knew where they were going. If questioned, they would know and James would be in danger. On top of that, Albus was the only wizard alive that Voldemort had any sort of hesitation towards and taking him off the board before getting rid of Voldemort would only increase the man's insanity and make him feel invincible. It was better, and more logical, to keep Albus alive long enough to get rid of Voldemort. After that? He'd see. Right now it was about practicality and part of that was not showing his hand so early.

Albus may have used veritaserum but he hadn't asked the right questions, part of the reason James suspected he didn't press on how James came to be in this time. He hadn't known how to question an unknown subject. So if James brought him back, it would only prove to Albus that James cared to get rid of Voldemort and would most likely use him on future missions like these.

Decision made, he turned and watched just in time to see Albus drink from the lake. Horror froze him to the soil as he watched the water ripple around the old man, terror finally making him move. He ran over to Albus and roughly pulled him back to the basin, his eyes glancing to the potion and noticing that it had been cleared enough for James to see that the object was a necklace. He reached in as he noticed part of the chain not in the potion and carefully pulled it out.

A wet slapping sound distracted him and he turned around as he clutched the necklace in his hand, drawing his wand and yelling in surprise as fingers wrapped around his ankle and tugged him harshly. He lost his balance and fell on top of Albus with a heavy thud, his head hitting the side of the basin with a loud crack and a force great enough that it had him blinking the dark spots out of his eyes. It took him a moment too long to realize he was being dragged down towards the water and another longer moment to remember that he'd probably ought to do something to stop that. His hand gripped his wand only to find his wand missing. He looked down and regretted it instantaneously.

Inferi were climbing out of the water with increasingly heart stopping numbers, the one dragging him back only the first one to reach him. Albus, still in the throws of delirium, was being dragged down by three that had reached him and didn't currently possess the mental capacity to fight them. James cursed his moment of indecision earlier and started to kick at the creature trying to drown him. A few good kicks and he managed to wrench his foot free, quickly scrambling on hands and feet back to where he thought he would have dropped his wand only to see the damned necklace instead. He grabbed it and tucked it in his pocket as he his eyes darted wildly across the floor for his missing wand. He spotted it moments before an inferius crawled over and obscured it from view. Hoping it hadn't broken under the pressure of the body, James cursed and dove at the inferius, pushing it far enough off his wand that he was able to grab it, retreating as quickly as he could.

He was too slow though, and felt wet, cold fingers grab his robes and tug him back, his fear the only thing driving him as he managed to turn around and blast the things away, hitting the water with a loud splash and an explosion of water followed. James grit his teeth, knowing that that was only a further signal for more of those blasted dead to 'wake up'. He turned to find Albus, only to see him being dragged under the water and cursed as he ran, sliding down onto the ground and grabbing the man's robes just on his shoulder and heaving with all his might. Maybe it was luck, maybe it was his terror but he managed to pull the old man back from the water, the inferi still holding on strongly and acting as a counter weight as they continued to try and drag him back.

"Get. _OFF!_" He bellowed before sending a bombarda at the inferi holding Albus.

It wasn't as effective as it was on land, but it loosened their hold long enough for him to pull Albus back to the safety on land. Which wasn't very safe at all. James knew he was panicking now, inferi all around him and crawling over each other as they sensed the heartbeats of their prey just in front of them. There was no way out, no safe exit or spell he could use where he could save both himself and Albus. For the first time in his life he had to admit that perhaps this was the end, that for the first time he had truly been bested. He wrapped his hand around his wand tighter and shook his head. If this was the end, if this was where he would end up, at the bottom of some lake, then he would make sure he fought with everything he had in him. He screamed out his rage and fear as he sent spell after spell at those continuing to crawl towards them, bombarda after bombarda, but it was quickly obvious that the amount of inferi in the lake far surpassed anything he could have dreamed of. They were endless.

A squeak behind him had him turning and brandishing his wand, blinking in confusion when it met the wide terrified eyes of a house-elf.

"Wha-?" James uttered in confusion.

"Miss Grace is needing Mr. Potter sirs!" The house-elf squeaked out once more, eyes darting left and right as the inferi continued their trek.

"You can apparate? You can apparate. You apparated here." James uttered in shock. "Grace. Grace needs me?" Nothing made sense anymore. Why was this house-elf here? How did he get here?

"Miss Grace asks Dobby to get Mr. Potter." The house-elf confirmed.

"Can you get us out of here?" James asked quickly, bending down and grabbing a moaning Albus' arm.

"Yes sirs!"

"_Then do it!_" James screamed as he felt fingers grab his robes again.

He turned quickly and used his elbow to jam it harshly into whatever body part it came into contact with before sending another bombarda at the inferi that were too close for comfort.

"Now!" He ordered as he turned back to the terrified house-elf.

James felt a little hand on his arm and watched as the house-elf grabbed onto Albus before apparating them away with a loud popping sound. The sunlight was almost blinding as they fell to the ground right outside the Hogwarts gates. It felt like hours ago when they had left, as if he had been in a dream but Albus' low moan of pain and terror and him turning his attention to the house-elf.

"Tell madam Pomfrey that Albus Dumbledore is on the way and is in dire need of help!" James ordered as he struggled to his feet, pulling Albus' dead weight from the ground and stumbling slightly before finding his feet. He ignored the pop of apparation and walked as quickly as he could to the school.

"James?" A deep voice boomed out. "Albus!"

James turned to see Hagrid heading towards them and almost sighed in relief. "Hagrid! We need help, he needs the infirmary! He's too heavy for me alone." James said quickly.

"Righ'." Hagrid said, quickly picking Albus up in a bridal carry and rushing into the castle, James following as quickly as he could knowing he was the only one capable of giving Madam Pomfrey any answers.

The walls rushed past him, stairs made him stumble and cold sweat dripped down his back as he tried to follow Hagrid as closely as possible. He was down the corridor when he heard the infirmary doors bang open and Hagrid bellow for Madam Pomfrey, hearing only the sound of her voice as a reply and not the words themselves. He stumbled in after Hagrid and saw the half-giant put Albus down gently on one of the many beds.

"What happened to him Hagrid?" She demanded as she shot a diagnostic spell at his prone figure.

"James-" Hagrid started before turning and slumping in relief at seeing James behind him. "Saw him and James at the gates. James said he was in a bad way." Hagrid stated as he drew Madam Pomfrey's sharp eyes to James.

"You look like you've just been in a battle." She stated.

"Not far off. Inferi." James stated weakly as he slumped against the wall, sliding down until he was sitting and tried to catch his breath. "He had to drink a potion, it made him hallucinate."

"He drank a potion? Without knowing what the effects where?" Madam Pomfrey growled out in anger before she turned to Hagrid. "Fetch Severus if you will, Hagrid. He might have more luck identifying this than I could." Hagrid ran off without another word and Madam Pomfrey shot a spell at Albus before turning to him. "What about you? Injuries?"

James shook his head before pointing at Albus. "Nothing time won't fix, he needs your attention more."

"I've put him in stasis until we have more information." The witch said in a gentle tone that made him bristle.

"I don't need to be handled."

"But you do need to be checked." She stated before firing a diagnostic spell at him. "Inferi are notorious for infections and if we don't catch them on time...well I'd rather not let it get that far." A piece of parchment appeared in front of Madam Pomfrey, who plucked it out of the air and opened it. "You have a concussion, which would explain the cut on your forehead and the excess amount of blood on your face." She stated as she stood up and walked into her office. "Several cuts, a couple of bruises, your magic is severely depleted so you'll be staying here for a few days." Her voice carried on from inside the room.

James let his head rest on the wall and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath, holding it until his lungs screamed at him and slowly releasing it. He was safe now. He had gotten out. Merlin but he was going to _murder_ Albus for this. If both of them, grown men, weren't able to fight their way out of a situation like that, how was Grace supposed to? What had Albus thought when he had begun to think of this little 'adventure'?

"Drink this." Madam Pomfrey stated firmly as he opened his eyes. A small vial was pushed in front of his nose and he raised his head to look at her, surprised to see her in front of him. She huffed. "Just like Grace. For your concussion. The pepper-up will have to wait and the cuts and bruises aren't pressing to your health. I do want you to take this as well," She said as she pulled out another vial, "to counteract any infection that might spring up." James nodded and swallowed down both potions, nearly gagging at their combined tastes. Madam Pomfrey nodded approvingly before she knelt down in front of him. "Now tell me everything you remember about this potion."

James told her everything he could, the colour, the odour, what it made Albus do and his reactions to it. He was honest in his answers to her questions and tried to help as much as possible. Snape came in not long after, narrowed eyes landing on James before swiftly taking in Albus' condition. Thankfully Madam Pomfrey took over for him and relayed the effects of the potion and the potion itself, turning to him only for confirmation before turning back to Snape. They huddled together for a few minutes before nodding and breaking up, Snape leaving the infirmary and Madam Pomfrey making her way back to him.

"I'm going to have to ask you to clean up." She told him, her soft voice back in effect. His glare did nothing to dissuade her. "There's a bathroom just there," she started as she pointed over her shoulder, "and I want you to make use of that. Get clean and then get into bed. What you need right now is rest, anything else we can handle in the morning. I'll put a dreamless sleep next to your bed. Take it." She stated firmly, head lifting as Snape walked back into the infirmary. They nodded at each other as Snape moved towards Albus and she drew the curtains around his bed.

Anything else.

A tickle of a memory.

Anything else.

Something important.

Anything else.

_Grace_.

Grace had needed him. Grace was the reason he was still alive. He needed to find Grace. With a grunt he struggled his way to a standing position, swaying slightly as the potions were clearly affecting him already. He fell over his own feet but found his balance and walked out of the infirmary, determined to find Grace despite not knowing where in the bloody castle she could be right now. He had walked down two hallways and a flight of stairs when he heard footsteps running towards him. He turned the corner in time to see Grace running towards him, her eyes wide and panicked until she saw him.

"James!" She called out. "Dobby said-he said you were hurt! Is that _blood_?" She asked aghast, turning white as her eyes traced the dried blood on the side of his face and trailing down to his neck.

"I'm fine."

"You bloody well don't look fine! What the fuck James? What happened? Dobby is out of his mind with fear, I barely managed to calm him down."

James growled in frustration before grabbing her by the waist and, with a controlled push, slammed her into the wall. Anything she had been about to say whooshed out of her as her wide eyes stared at him. He crowded her before gathering her in a tight hug, using the wall as a support column to keep them upright.

"Ok." She whispered as her arms wrapped around him and held him tight. "Ok, it's ok, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."

"Whatever happens after this moment," James told her fiercely, "you will not ever go anywhere alone with Albus Dumbledore."

"Wha-why?"

"I can't trust him with you anymore. What he wanted from you, what he expects you to do, it's too much and I won't let him put you in a position where you have to make terrible choices. Promise me Grace." He asked fiercely, his voice hard and unyielding.

"I-I-what happens when I don't have time to decide? What happens when I'm already in the moment before I even know it?"

James closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers, the pressure no doubt far to strong but he couldn't help himself. He could still feel undead hands wrapping around his ankle. "Then you call me. He's dang-I don't want you alone with him. I understand it's necessary at times but I must ask you not to leave the castle with him alone without informing me of it first." Grace relaxed at that and James knew he had her.

"Yeah, I can do that. What happened James?" She asked softly, her cold hands coming up to cup his face as she peered into his eyes.

"Something I hope you never see." He said hoarsely before gently pulling out of her hold. "I need to head back. I'll be in the infirmary until tomorrow. Come find me in the morning to tell me what you needed me for." He ordered her softly before pulling her into a harsh kiss. It had nothing to do with need or passion, simply an affirmation of connection that he desperately needed right now.

"Infirmary? How hurt are you?"

"Not hurt, bruised."

"You're bleeding!"

"All healed, I promise darling." James said softly as he trailed a hand down her hair.

"I can walk you." She offered but he was shaking his head before she had even finished.

"No. I need a bit of time, get cleaned up, rest a little. I need..." He hesitated.

"To debrief?" She asked, understanding in her eyes.

He nodded. Wasn't quite what he meant, but it would do. He needed a moment to put today in some kind of order; he needed to make sense of it all. He didn't remember leaving Grace, didn't remember taking a shower or dressing in soft night clothes. Barely remembered crawling into bed and downing the dreamless sleep potion. He did remember turning his head towards the bed housing Albus Dumbledore and wondering if he had made the right choice, wondering if he had missed the very opportunity that may have cost him everything.

\---******---

She couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong. It wasn't something that had raised any red flags at first. It was a thought here, a smile there, and a glance to see where he was. It hadn't occurred to her that it was wrong, that something was wrong. Not until she found herself sitting next to Ron during charms and he had patted her arm, lingering just a touch too long. Before she would have shied away, before she would have told him to cut it out. Now she felt herself thinking she wished it would have lasted longer.

_Red flag. _

Except she didn't know what was wrong. Something was, something was making her feel differently or think differently or act differently. So she had done the sensible thing and asked the people closest to her. Hermione, Ginny, Luna, none of them said she was acting differently. They thought she was being paranoid, only she couldn't shake the feeling from her bones. Was it only Ron? Or was it men in general? Has something backfired? It wasn't a love potion that she knew of. Could it have been a slow acting one? Hermione had told her those didn't exist, not like she was thinking but it failed to ease her mind. Magic was a terrifying thing when almost anything was possible. If it wasn't a potion, it could be a spell, one that didn't even have to be on her at all times.

What was she supposed to do? She had no evidence, a sense of something wrong with unreliable proof, and everyone around her telling her that she was fine. She wasn't fine. She could ask Natalie, but she wasn't meeting the mind-healer for another two weeks. That could be a good thing, gather more evidence, pay more attention to her surroundings and the people around her. On the other hand, two weeks was a long time and her paranoia was sure to hit the roof, and that was only assuming that the person who was doing this was content to let this happen at the slow pace it currently was.

What she needed was someone who would listen, someone she could trust. She needed James.

Figuring that out had relief soak through her bones, knowing he would come to her, knowing he would listen to her and try and figure out what was going on. She had thought to owl, but waiting those few days to hear back from him (in person or through owl) would have just been too long. She did the most logical thing she knew how to do and asked Dobby for his help. Dobby who practically jumped for joy and popped away happily, arriving fifteen minutes later on the edge of hysterics. Panic flared through her system as she threw herself to the floor and pulled Dobby in her arms, trying her very best to calm him down in the best way she was capable.

It took a long time before she could even get two words out of him, longer to hear that James was even in Hogwarts, let alone the infirmary. Her heart was pounding out of her chest as she tried to be rational. She waited, vibrating in her own skin, until Dobby was some sort of calm before she told him to let the other house-elves comfort and coddle him and to let her know if he needed anything at all. He wailed and threw himself at her again before finally popping away.

Her panic had her running, had her praying that James was all right, but the sight of him when she turned that corner had been a breath of relief until she really took him in. James had been completely out of it and, worse, had looked like he had gotten into a fight and lost. She got less than nothing out of him but enough to know he was all right. She had helped him back to the infirmary and watched helplessly as he stumbled into the bathroom. Luckily a house-elf popped in to put a potion on a nightstand and she had been able to ask for help, that someone could watch over James at his most vulnerable and not take advantage.

She had fretted between waiting on James and leaving when the noise of Hogwarts increased and she realized she'd be late for her next class if she didn't leave. It was hard to leave James like this and only the knowledge that he was safe here and well taken care of made it reasonably all right for her to leave. She knew she'd fret until she saw him again, but in the meantime she could manage.

It was her bad luck (she decided to still blame the Potter's for that since she wasn't sure she liked the Evan's luck considering who her aunt was) that as she left, Snape and Madam Pomfrey opened the curtains to a closed off bed, shutting them quickly behind them, talking softly but urgently as they headed towards Madam Pomfrey’s office. She watched in muted horror as Snape's gaze flittered over and past her, only to snap back to her person. She felt her heart stutter in despair and ducked her head, making her feet walk quickly without outright running away.

"Potter." Snape called after her, just as she almost reached the end of the corridor and the freedom beyond it.

She froze for a split second, grimaced, and then turned on her heel, already feeling tired of the conversation to come. "Yes? And it's Black-Gryffindor now, if you didn't know." Everyone knew. There was no way he hadn't known so him still using 'Potter' was probably some sort of slight.

"I wasn't aware." Snape replied curtly and with a small amount of awkwardness that Grace thought was misplaced.

"Hard to miss."

"It is hard to parse fact from fiction when it concerns you."

"You didn't seem to care before." Grace pointed out. "As I remember you liked to throw it in my face either way."

Snape narrowed his eyes, anger clearly growing in the face of her ire. He took a deep breath and tipped is head in her direction. "That's...not untrue." He allowed slowly.

The silence was deafening. "Was there something you needed?"

“We need to have a conversation about the things you said to me during the Yule holidays.”

“Do we?”

“It is imperative.”

“To whom?”

“Excuse me?”

“To whom, exactly, is it imperative?”

Snape narrowed his eyes, anger clearly building despite his attempts to temper it. “To begin with, the Dark Lord will find this information very interesting.”

“That's your problem.” Grace stated. “That's not about me, so I hardly see why we should discuss it.”

“It concerns you, especially once he targets you!”

“He's always targeted me.” She pointed out, trying to be reasonable.

“And what of me? Do I matter so little to you that you would put my life in danger with your carelessness?”

“Don't you dare put that on me.” Grace hissed, suddenly furious. “I haven't done a fucking thing to put your life in danger! Besides that, how the fuck would Voldemort-“

“Don't say his name!” Snape ground out dangerously at her.

Grace ignored him. “Even know or care that you're biologically my father? Have tea with him every week do you?”

“You know nothing about the dangers that surround us.”

“And whose bloody fault is that? I don't get told anything important, so how would I know? I'm just a child, _remember_?”

“My child, as it happens.”

“And I bet you went out and triple checked with everyone you could because you can't wait to get rid of me already.”

“Having us linked through blood is dangerous.” Snape barked at her. “I am your father and your safety is important to me.”

Grace almost chocked on her own spit. “What?! My-_what_? No. No, that's not happening.”

“It is and it will. I have a meeting later this week with Headmaster Dumbledore to go over any safety feature I deem necessary for your safety.”

“Like what, having a teacher invade my mind over and over and over again and then scream at me for not doing it right despite literally telling me nothing on how to do it?”

“You needed teaching.” He all but snarled at her.

“Then you should have taught me, not screamed at me.” She replied, trying very hard to keep her own temper in check.

“This is getting us nowhere.” Snape grit out.

“Fantastic since I don't want anything to do with you.”

“You are my daughter.”

“Biologically.”

“Semantics. “

“Not in my eyes.”

“Must you be so difficult?” Snape snarled at her. “I am trying.”

“No you're not.” Grace scoffed before finally looking at him. She nearly chuckled at the constipated look he was wearing, probably trying his hardest not to sneer at her. “Listen Snape, because I'll only, probably, say this once. You're a git and a bully. You've spent six years making my life hell and treating me like dirt and now because you're my biological father you think you have the right to barge into my life-“

“I'm not barging and I'm not demanding.” He interrupted, looking constipated at her words.

“Yes you are! You're demanding that I let you be a father to me! I don't want you! You've been nothing but mean and spiteful towards me and now I'm just supposed to forget about all that? You're petty and cruel and you've made it so _so_ clear each year just how much you hate me! You hate me, and now we're both just supposed to forget that because I'm your daughter? It doesn't work like that.”

“You're the only part of Lily I have left and I'm not ready to give that up.”

Something broke in Grace at that. “I'm not a replacement for my mother.” She said softly. “And if that's how you see me, please forget I ever existed. “

“This is difficult for me.”

“And it isn't for me? With you being who you are?”

“Pardon me?”

“You've hated me the moment you set eyes on me. I was eleven and I didn't know anything and now suddenly the person who hates me most outside of Voldemort is supposed to be my father, a title for people who love and cherish and protect their children.”

“I didn't know you existed. “

“Neither did I, but you didn't see me be terrible to you when we first met.”

“Your arrogance knows no bounds.” He sneered at her, finally showing his true colours.

“And yet you're the one who's trying to replace his long lost love with the daughter he despises. I'm done.” Grace said as she held her hands up and clenched her jaw. “And for the record? Go fuck yourself a new kid, because this one's not yours anymore.” She stated before turning and practically running away. It was better than staying.

It was only hours later that she remembered she still hadn’t said a word to anyone about her suspicions.

\---******---

Fire burned through her blood.

Coldness seeped through her pores.

Something was slithering its way towards her.

She turned to the darkness, reaching out, begging for help without a voice.

But the cold had tendrils that grabbed, that took, that caged.

The darkness seethed around her, unable to help, an ebony mass that grew with possession and rage the longer the cold held her in its icy touch.

She had to fight.

Could she fight?

Didn’t she want the cold?

Wasn’t it all she had known?


	16. When I Find My Baby, I Ain't Letting Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo! I'm early! *Pats myself on the back*  
Not sure I'm loving this one, but *shrugs*. Also, just like last time, due to real life I'm going to have to skip next month again so I'm sorry about that :(.  
No beta, mistakes plague me.

"How are you feeling?" Grace asked as she sat down in the visitor’s chair placed next to James’ bed.

"Alarmed to say that I can't quite remember what happened yesterday." He replied ruefully.

"That'll be the concussion." She said with a knowing nod.

James grimaced. "Darling, please don't say things like that right now. I don't think I'm quite capable of murder at the minute." She laughed softly before standing up and toeing off her shoes. James looked at her with some surprise when she lay down next to him and snuggled in. "What's this now?" He asked softly as his arm wrapped around her waist.

"You scared me yesterday. I've never seen you hurt before and it came, it was...hard."

"I'm sorry you had to see me like that."

She shook her head. "It's not that. It just caught me by surprise. Reminded me that we're starting a war of sorts and you could get hurt."

James sighed lightly as his arm around her tightened almost painfully. "If it were up to me, you wouldn't ever be in the position to know."

"It's not though. Pretty sure it was up to Voldemort."

"I'm sure it had nothing to do with how you were hailed the saviour before your second birthday either."

Grace smiled into his chest. "These things seems to find me."

"Or someone makes them find you." James uttered darkly.

Grace lifted her head and looked at him in confusion. "Are you really trying to tell me that you think someone has deliberately put me in this position? Because that's just crazy. Unless we're talking about Voldemort and then it makes sense." She amended.

"You are far too callous with his name." James said with a wince. "Never mind that, don't you have classes to attend?"

"Free class. I dropped divination so no N.E.W.T. studying to do for that."

"Divination? Interesting choice."

"You're not going to tell me how it's completely useless and admonish me for my choice?"

James looked down at her in surprise. "You made this choice on your own when you were twelve. There was no adult interaction to help further your choice and I'm sure you were influenced by your friends, correct?"

"Right. Well, I did look at all the options you know, but Arithmancy was just complicated math and why would you willing choose that? I was pants at in school and it doesn't exactly seem like the Wizarding world needs it all that much so..." Grace said with a small shrug as she trailed off.

"And Runes?"

She hesitated as she thought back to second year. "Wasn't really a thought? They sort of seemed to go hand in hand so I dismissed it out of hand. Probably shouldn't have. I looked over some of Hermione's books over the years and it actually looks pretty interesting."

"You could always self-study." James suggested lightly but Grace quickly shook her head.

"I don't have that sort of discipline. If I ever want to learn it, I'll sign up for classes or get a teacher once my proper classes are over."

"So you chose Divination and..."

"Care of Magical Creatures." She happily provided.

"And Care of Magical Creatures. Interesting choices. What were you thinking career wise that had you choosing these classes?"

"I wasn't."

He looked down at her in confusion. "Surely you had someone go over them with you at the very least."

"I was twelve." She deadpanned.

"Which is the appropriate age to start thinking about it, yes. Grace,” he stated seriously as he struggled to sit himself upright, “did no one sit you down about this?"

"About what, exactly?" She asked, a little irritably as she moved away so he could sit up. "I had my career option meeting with Professor McGonagall last year. "

"And I'm sure it was as helpful as asking a rock for directions." James huffed out.

"It was! No, wait, I mean that it was actually helpful."

"Was it?" He asked doubtfully and giving her a meaningful look.

"I figured out I wanted to be an auror so, yes."

"An auror? You want to be an auror." He said slowly as he watched her carefully.

"Is it wrong?" She asked, shifted uncomfortably on the bed.

"Not at all." He dismissed easily. "McGonagall advised this?"

"It's what I'm good at!" Grace finally hissed out, feeling attacked and defensive.

"I mean no harm darling, just asking questions."

"What did you mean about second year?" She asked, changing the subject and ignoring James' knowingly amused look.

"Are you aware that the Wizarding world does not have universities?"

"Uhm, I think Hermione may have mentioned it once?"

"Of course she has. None the less, we do not any. What we do have is apprenticeships. If you wanted to further your studies in the field of potions or charms you would find a mentor and become an apprentice."

"So a specialized university?"

"Of a sorts, I suppose. I cannot say with any certainty since I'm not aware of how universities function. Hogwarts was established, and I'm not referring to it's initial founding here, to have children harness their magic and learn the basics. From our parents we learn about the world but from Hogwarts we learn the fields of studies."

"Which is why there isn't a class on the Wizarding world." Grace said with a thoughtful nod.

"Unless you count History of Magic."

"Who does?" She snorted. "So that's why we don't learn about quills and such?"

"That's why. Wizarding children already know this and if the professor that informs you of your true heritage is capable, they explain the basics before you arrive. Or so I've heard."

"So second year?"

"Second year is when you make the choice in what classes interest you. Wizarding children will have gone home for Yule where their parents would have sat them down and explained what each choice would mean for them."

"Like what?"

"I will specify an example based on your choices. With the core classes you have a wide variety of professions you could choose, your current choices haven't limited you in any way in that regard, but if you had a passion for a specific topic or subject, this is when that would be encouraged. Divination is a fine class to take if you were interested in the more mystical side of magic, something that would probably see you going to the Department of Mysteries." Grace grimaced at the name but nodded to show she was listening. "Care of Magical Creatures, as you might imagine, would send you on a career path that would include animals. Divination and Care of Magical Creatures?" James hummed in thought. "I suppose that put in you some sort of mythical creature study but those are terribly obscure and you wouldn't be well respected for it."

"But Malfoy is taking them!" Grace protested as she suddenly remembered.

"Is he?" James asked with curious eyes. "I'm almost positive that he would take one or the other, not both. Certainly not with his lineage."

"Ron definitely is." She protested again.

"Blood traitor." James replied simply.

"So why are so many of my classmates doing the same?"

"I might suggest asking after their blood."

Grace wanted to be outraged at his comment but it suddenly made a sick amount of sense. "People with muggle backgrounds or with a muggle parent." She said softly.

"I would wager it." James said with a short nod. "They, like you, were not informed of how the selection works because Hogwarts staff rarely pays attention to it. Their jobs are to teach, not to parent you."

"So will I be punished in some way for my choices after I graduate?"

"By society you mean?" James asked in surprise as Grace nodded. "Not in the least. We don't go about boasting of our N.E.W.T. scores several years after the fact."

"No, I know that, I meant more like when I apply for a job or an apprenticeship."

"Not in the sense you think. They would note the odd elective choice and devise that you are muggleborn and act accordingly."

"But what about Ron? He's a pureblood."

"And a Blood traitor." James pointed out. "It's almost expected of him."

"This is so depressing." Grace moaned as she flopped down next to James. "You're telling me we're basically doomed from the beginning?"

"Without the proper knowledge and guidance, yes."

"So why didn't any of the teachers tell us this?"

"Again, they are teachers, not your parents. They expect the parents to properly inform and guide you through your choices."

"Then why do we have career meetings during fifth year? How does that make sense? I mean, you've essentially already chosen your course in life and now they sit you down and tell you what you can do with that course?"

"Yes." James said succinctly. "They tell you in fifth year to motivate you to gain as many O.W.L.S. you possibly can and to prepare you for your N.E.W.T. classes."

"The higher the grades the better the job?"

"Not necessarily, but you will have a better chance if they see you are motivated and diligent."

Grace groaned in annoyance as she thought back to her own marks and realized she would have to put in more effort if she wanted good N.E.W.T. results. "Fantastic." She muttered. "Why did we start talking about this?"

James chuckled as slid back down the bed and tucked her in close. "What would you like to discuss then?"

"How about what you were doing that got you hurt?"

"Of little consequence."

"I disagree."

"Grace, this isn't something I'm willing to discuss." He stated with a tone that brooked no argument.

"Why? You're always plenty willing to talk about the things I told you I didn't."

James took a deliberately deep breath. "This is dif-no." He stopped himself. "This is something I'm doing with Albus that puts your life at risk."

Grace frowned. "Shouldn't that make it even more important for me to know?"

"Not if me doing this prevents him from making you do it."

"How would that happen?"

"There are ways to make you feel indebted." James said carefully as he watched Grace. "I'm not willing to put your life in danger darling." He said softly as he stroked his thumb gently down her cheek.

"Is that really your decision to make?" Grace asked quietly.

James grimaced as he turned on his side to face her, his muscles clearly protesting. "In some ways no, but in all the important ways yes. I know you don't like it and I understand your reasons, but while I still breathe and have magic in my veins, I will make sure of your safety."

"And what of yours? James, the way you looked..."

"I'm sorry darling." He said sincerely as he kissed her gently, sweetly. "I'm sorry you saw me like that and I'm sorry I put you in that position."

Grace leaned back a little so she could see him better. "But that's not all is it?"

"No. I have a feeling you'll be seeing less of me for some time to come."

"Less? Where are you going? We have weekly dates. Our Courtship contract demands it."

James winced. "I know it does and I will do my best to keep them, but I'm afraid I might not be able to make it in person."

"What does that mean?" She grumped, hating what he was saying and knowing he was as movable as a dragon when he had his mind made up.

"Sirius' mirror." He said softly, pulling her in close once more.

"The mirror that-I remember." Grace said hoarsely as she buried her face in his chest and hung on to him as guilt flooded her. If only she had looked, if only she had remembered, if only she had tried harder. Even knowing everything he had done, it hadn’t changed her hand in his death.

"That's how we'll stay in contact. I cannot promise I will answer every time, but at least once a week I will make sure to answer your call."

"For how long?"

"I'm not sure." He confessed softly. "Long enough that this measure will be necessary, but not long enough to disrupt our lives."

"So this is some sort of mission? For Dumbledore?"

"Not for him, with him. I wouldn't go unless it was vital. Do you believe me?"

"Yes." Grace whispered as she hugged him tighter. "I've just gotten used to you being here, what am I supposed to do without you?"

"Do your homework?" James suggested with a laugh as Grace poked him viciously in the side. "Oef! Injured patient here! Abuse! Abuse!"

"Oh shut up!" Grace laughed as she pushed James and he dramatically rolled onto his back.

Before she could even blink Madam Pomfrey was there looking at both of them with stern eyes and a tapping foot. They both gulped guilty before muttering out a soft 'sorry' that she clearly didn't accept by the narrowing of her eyes. Grace figured it was safest for her to leave so she grabbed her shoes and her bag and smiled weakly before darting for the door. A muffled curse followed her out and she giggled all the way to her next class. It wasn't until much later that she realized she had once again missed her opportunity to tell James of her suspicions and by then it was too late. James was gone.

\---******---

"So how long did he say he'd be gone for?" Hermione asked as she looked down the table for some jam.

"Didn't. He didn't say anything important actually, was pretty adamant that I happily stay in the dark and live a life of innocence and purity." Grace said snidely as she subtly pushed the strawberry jam behind a basket of warm toast.

"Pissed you off did he?" Hermione said as she grimaced at the peach jam next to her but used it anyway, taking a bite before she spotted the strawberry and turning accusing eyes towards Grace.

"Like you wouldn't believe. And the worst part is that when he's doing it, I get it and I know where he's coming from but then I leave and I think about it and it just makes me so angry!" Grace replied, looking back in innocence that Hermione clearly didn't believe.

"Tosser." She muttered with a narrowing of her eyes. "What about your weekly dates? If you're not having them, does that mean I have extra time for studying again?"

"Of course you'd think of that. Honestly, after what he and Mr. Weasley tried to pull I’m just glad I don’t have to see Dumbledore for a while. Let it all sink in so I don’t get the urge to hex him every time I see his face. And we're still having the dates, James and I, just not in person."

"Em, how? Is he going to project himself here?"

Grace laughed quietly. "No, we're using the mirrors Sirius gave me last year. He said he'd make time for me at least once a week so we'll see how that goes."

Hermione hummed in thought as she licked her jam-smudged finger. "You don't believe him?"

"I have no idea what he's even doing!" Grace exclaimed hotly. "He wouldn't tell me a bloody thing no matter how much I poked and prodded! But the meetings are in our contract so he said that part was necessary. Not that I needed more information or anything, I’ll just sit here being content in the dark."

"Would you even need a chaperone for that?" Hermione wondered. "Technically you aren't in danger of crossing any boundaries because neither of you will physically be in the same space. Can you verbally-no, wait, you can. I also do not need to know what that sounds like, thank you very much."

"Why's that?" Grace smirked at a blushing Hermione. "Does Viktor's dirty talk not do it for you?"

“Ugh!” Hermione complained as she threw a grape at Grace. "Change of subject before you think that's an appropriate breakfast topic, how's the mind-healer sessions?"

"Hm?" Grace said innocently as she quickly turned her attention back to her tea.

"Grace." Hermione said warningly. "You _are_ still going aren't you?"

"We had a very nice discussion and I explained to her that she wasn't quite what I was looking for." Grace nodded sagely as she grabbed another piece of toast to avoid Hermione’s searching look.

"Which means you're going to look for another one, _right_?"

"I will. Once Voldemort's out of my life permanently."

"Grace!" Hermione hissed. "This is important! You've only just lost Remus and now with everything going on..."

"Exactly! How can I possibly find time for anything when there's a madman on the loose and hunting me down? 'Oh, hang on there the Darkest Lord of all time! I have a mind-healer session, mind coming back to off me in about an hour? Yes? Fantastic, thanks!'"

"Why are you always this sarcastic? Things like this don't happen in real life." Hermione complained.

"Really? Tell that to the basilisk in the secret chamber underneath a school filled with magical children." Grace deadpanned. “On no wait, I killed that one when it tried to eat me.”

"What are we talking about?" Ginny asked as she plopped down next to Hermione.

"Disasters and how they always find me."

Ginny nodded. "They do do that. I used to think it was a Potter thing but that theory is out considering...everything. How's that going anyway?"

Grace frowned. "How's what going? The disasters?"

"No, the Snape thing. He's been a real werewolf on the full moon during Defence and I swear even Luna is getting ready to hex him."

"Ha!" Grace crowed out in triumph. "The one year I don't get tortured during a Defence lesson!"

"Why do you keep saying things like that?" Hermione complained. "This is the reason you need to see a mind-healer you know."

"Oh right, you were going to see one right?" Ginny asked as she grabbed some pumpkin juice.

"Yeah. She was nice enough."

"But...?"

"She didn't do it for me? I mean, I get why she was there and why it's important and all, especially after Sirius and now Remus, but I just...didn't feel it."

Ginny nodded. "Makes sense. Aunt something or other on mum's side had a miscarriage and she went to see one. Said it helped loads but it took her three tries to find someone who she was comfortable with. So are you going to find a new one?"

"Probably not any time soon. She said she'd let Dumbledore know so he could set up another meeting but he's been gone lately so who knows when that will be."

"He's gone?" Hermione asked, perking up. "Where did he go?"

"Yes." Grace drawled. "Because I'm his personal secretary and have his agenda right here to show you."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Oh ha ha, very funny."

"How should I know where he went?"

"Because you guys have private lessons maybe?" Hermione whispered.

"You guys were having private lessons with Dumbledore?!" Ginny asked, jaw dropping.

"Not us, Grace. And it was for The Order." Hermione said, mouthing the last part in case someone was listening in.

"Enough of this." Grace groaned. "Where's Ron?"

"Ron?" Ginny asked in confusion. "Last I saw he was locking lips with Lav-Lav. If they ever came up for air it would be a bloody miracle."

"Weren't you the one who was telling him off last year for sticking his nose in your business?" Hermione asked with interest.

"Yeah, but I didn't go around practically humping Dean in the common room now did I? His little sister is in his house, he should have at least some decency!"

"So throw a dung bomb in every time they start." Grace said with a sneaky smile. "That'll clear them right out."

"Or tell Lavender some juicy gossip and she'll be off, running around the castle to make sure everyone knows about it."

"How can you still be bitter at her?" Grace wondered.

"Because I can hold a grudge as long as I damn well please, that's why. Want to go back to how you're avoiding Snape?"

"Ugh, no! We catch each other’s eye here and there and that's about it. Honestly, this is the best relationship I've had with him since we met."

"That's...incredibly sad." Ginny pointed out.

"It's loads better than what he was doing before."

"To you maybe, now he just hates us all." Hermione pointed out. "He even yelled at Malfoy in our last Defence class and Parvati left in near tears."

"Not that unusual. The tears then," Grace clarified, "not the Malfoy thing. That's just weird."

"Hey." Ginny said softly, putting her hand on the table in front of Grace. "I heard about Remus."

Grace ducked her head and nodded, still unsure of feeling relieved and feeling guilty for it. "Yeah."

Ginny took the hint. "Do they know anything more?"

"No." Hermione sighed when it became obvious that Grace wasn't going to talk. "They're trying to find out where exactly he was killed and what he was doing out there, but so far no leads. I heard Kingsley say the forest he was found in was practically empty."

"Empty?"

"Of creatures, centaurs, werewolves, you know. So why he was there is a mystery."

"Shouldn't the mystery be why he left at all?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked looking confused.

"Well, first off, being in a different country would mess up any evidence they might find because of red tape and different jurisdictions. The longer they waited, the less evidence they had. Not to mention he wasn't supposed to be there at all, so why would he leave his post? What was so important that he left the job Dumbledore gave him to hope off to a different country? That's where they should start looking." Ginny finished. Both girls looked at her in shock, making her uncomfortable enough to shift in her seat. "What?" She asked defensively.

Grace shook her head in wonder. "How do you even know things like that?"

"Bill. He's got some interesting friends."

"No auror career for you?" Grace teased her.

"Nah I'm going for the dream job, Quidditch!"

"Did you hear?" Lavender asked as she dropped down dramatically next to Grace, leaning in close enough that Grace had to lean back as her personal space was invaded. Ginny rolled her eyes and stood up with her plate in one hand and her cup and utensils in another before wandering further down the table.

Hermione sighed in misery. "Hear what?"

"Do we have to know?" Grace asked as she eyed Lavender.

"Everyone should know." Padma stated sombrely as she showed them the newspaper. _DEATH EATERS STRIKE AGAIN! 26 MUGGLES DEAD, 14 INJURED IN RAID._

"Are they seriously still calling them raids?" Grace asked in disgust. "This is just torture and murder."

"Yeah and if they call it that people will panic more." Lavender said casually as she popped a grape into her mouth.

"But a raid makes it seem like they were after something when they're not.” Grace objected. “Unless you call murder as being after something."

"It's the fourth one this month alone." Parvati said sadly as she sat down next to Lavender and her sister. "Our parents are thinking about pulling us out and going to India until this is all over."

"Probably the safest idea." Hermione said with a nod. "I haven't told my parents anything because I know they'd pull me out and they're muggles."

"Out of all of us, you're the one in the most danger." Padma pointed out.

"Maybe." Hermione said slowly, as she considered it. "But I just got a titled House and I'm in a contract."

"But you're Grace's best friend and she's target number one." Parvati pointed out.

"Just because you're pretending to be a Pureblood doesn't mean they don't remember." Lavender added. Hermione went stiff as Grace and Padma shared a pained grimace as Parvati elbowed her best friend.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked dangerously.

Lavender shrugged carelessly "Well we all know it's true."

"Ok, that's it, I'm done." Hermione seethed as she pulled out her wand.

Lavender's eyes grew large as Parvati grabbed her arm and tugged her up and out of her chair. "Ok, this was fun. Time to go now!"

"That bitch." Hermione cursed, narrowed eyes following Lavender as she left the Great Hall.

"Are your breakfasts always this interesting?" Padma wondered as they watched Hermione watch Lavender.

"Depends on the day. If you drop by on Sunday I can guarantee a disturbing letter or two to the very underage saviour."

Padma shook her head and laughed. "I read some of those, I’ll pass if it’s all the same to you. I think I get enough excitement through second-degree contact with you lot. Anyway, I'm off to get my things before my first class." She said before grabbing an apple and wandering off.

"We should probably be doing the same thing." Grace said as she poked Hermione with a fork.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"You were death glaring space. Lavender left and we should too, unless you want to be late to class?"

"We've got plenty of time."

"Humour me." Grace stated blandly as she stood and raised her eyebrows in silent demand.

Hermione huffed but stood up and dutifully followed Grace out of the Great Hall. They had barely made it three steps before someone pushed by Hermione with enough force that she stumbled into Grace, making them both stumble before righting themselves.

"Watch where you're going!" Grace complained as she turned to the people passing them. Seeing Millicent Bullstrode, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Deveraux stop and turn towards them she groaned. "Should have known. What, there wasn't enough blood of the innocent to go with your breakfast so you're out looking for victims?"

"Oh look, it's the eternal looser and her mudblood!" Deveraux sneered as Bullstrode and Greengrass snickered.

"Hilarious." Hermione said dully. "Meanwhile neither one of us are married to a man in his sixties. Tell us Deveraux, how was the wedding night?"

"I know what you did." Deveraux said suddenly, stepping closer as she balled her fists. "I know what you did and I'll pay you back for it, I swear I will."

"Yeah, have fun doing that from France. Meanwhile, _Lord_ Black-Gryffindor and I, _Lord_ McKinnon, will be here in England, in contracts with people are aren't older than our parents and who won't try and impregnate us when we come home for the summer."

"This is all your fault!" Deveraux screeched.

"Prove it." Hermione dared her, leaning closer as she smiled darkly at Deveraux.

"You stole my life from me, you and that little whore next to you!” Deveraux spit out at Grace. “I know it was you that sent that letter. You just had to have Draco all to yourself, didn't you, you slut!"

"Seriously?" Grace complained. "Why do people keep thinking I like Malfoy? It's just insulting. And way to point fingers without any evidence at all. Who are you really trying to blame here? Her or me?"

"Oh please!" Hermione scoffed, ignoring Grace’s question. "Did Malfoy reject you one too many times? We've all seen how pathetically you've been pining after him or do you need a reminder of the wailing you did at your own bonding? He didn't even want you enough to stop the ceremony." Hermione taunted.

"At least she's had a bonding." Greengrass said jumping in. "What do you have? A contract with a famous Quidditch star who will probably tire of you within the month." She sneered as she looked Hermione up and down. "And who could blame him? You're the worst sort of mudblood lover out there."

"Is that your way of saying you wanted Malfoy but you're pissed that he went to your sister instead?" Grace asked before Hermione could retort. "Because I've seen all the looks he hasn't given you and boy, he really wants nothing to do with you does he?"

"I've never wanted Heir Malfoy." Greengrass replied with disgust. "He's been fucking people all over this castle. Who would want that sort of taint on her reputation?"

Grace watched with glee as Deveraux stiffened and Greengrass' eyes widened minutely at her gaff. "Ohho!" She crowed with delight. "Hear that Deveraux? She thinks _you're_ the slut."

"Imagine that." Hermione cut in before Greengrass could utter anything. "Your best friend going around spreading all sorts of rumours about your going-ons with Malfoy while all the while you thought it was us. Well, well, well, what a turn of events!"

"I never!" Greengrass denied vehemently.

"You were complaining before Yule about how Pansy was making a spectacle of herself." Bullstrode said, finally piping up as she slowly looked from one girl to the other with a frown.

"Well, it wasn't much of a stretch though, was it?" Hermione said mockingly as she went in for the kill. "Why else would daddy dearest bond you off to the only wizard alive who would take someone as disgraced as you? If it was me, I would have gone with him back to France and forgot England ever existed. Imagine the shame!"

"You little-" Deveraux seethed out angrily as she pulled her wand and brandished it at Hermione.

"_What_. Is going on here." Snape drawled slowly as he suddenly appeared next to them.

Deveraux quickly pulled her arm down and pointed her other hand in their direction. "Professor! They were going to hex us!" She said faux tearfully as Greengrass huddled close to her and pretended to sooth her.

"They did Professor!" Greengrass exclaimed dramatically. "We're so glad you're here, they scared us!"

"Fighting in the hallways, Pot-Bl-Gryffindor? Tut tut, what poor manners you ha-." He stuttered out. Grace and Hermione exchanged unsure glances before focusing back on a struggling Snape. "Twenty points from Gry-Ten points-I-_Longbottom_!" Snape called out as Neville walked by them on his way to class. "Twenty points for incompetence!" Snape glared, his ire evident as Neville squeaked in surprise and looked completely baffled at Snape. "Well? What are you still doing here?" Snape demanded as he stared them all down before they all jumped into motion and scurried away.

"What the hell was that?" Hermione whispered slightly in awe as they practically ran away from him, not daring to turn around until they were at least two corridors away.

Grace shrugged helplessly. "I think he didn't want to take points off me?" She asked, the thought sound wrong even as it came out of her mouth.

"You think?"

"Dunno. No. Yes? He's been really odd since I told him, this might just be a side-effect until it all settles down in his mind."

"Until what settles down?"

"You know, like he works it out and then makes peace with whatever he decided and then it's back to 'twenty points Potter, for breathing in my direction'."

Hermione snorted, amused eyes watching her carefully. "I think it's sad you'd rather prefer that than him being an actual parent to you."

"Don't need him anymore and I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to parent me. He wants my mother back."

Hermione winced. "That's disturbing. Hasn't he been complaining all this time about how much you look like James? Oh Merlin!" Hermione said suddenly, throwing out her arm and making them both stop before she turned to Grace. "I just realized."

"Realized what?"

"His nose! You could have had his nose!" They stared at each other for a few seconds before breaking out in fits of laughter, Hermione pointing at her nose and laughing harder before a noise behind them sobered them up a little.

"What was that?" Neville complained as he came up behind them. "What did I even do?"

"Nothing Neville." Grace said soothingly as she wiped her eyes. "He was...I have no idea what he was doing to be honest. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Why me?" He moaned sullenly.

"Better question." Hermione said after she put herself together again. "Why is it always Grace?"

Neville looked surprised but his expression quickly morphed into mirth. "True enough." He conceded. "We should get going though, classes are about to start."

They sighed in unison but quickly made their way back to the tower to brush their teeth and gather their books before rushing back out and heading for Charms.

"By the way, I figured it out." Hermione puffed when they finally sat down in class. "Remind me to tell you about my suspicions."

"Figured what out?" Grace mumbled out of the side of her mouth as Professor Flitwick started class.

"How Dumbledore and James are both involved with Remus' death." Hermione muttered back. "Now hush! I'm trying to pay attention."

Grace gawked at her best friend, wondering how such a brilliant girl could be so close to stupid on any given day.

\---******---

"Of all the places to do this." Grace groused moodily as she watched the ebb and flow of the water that soaked her shoes and socks.

"You're a witch, just get rid of it." Malfoy stated as he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and it would make her even more angry. Do you know nothing about girls at all?"

"I know enough to get by."

Grace opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind before she took a moment and then shook her head. It really wasn't worth it. "What did you find out?"

"There wasn't a whole lot to find out." Malfoy started. "It's not like I can just go to the library and check out a book on his dark mark."

Grace furrowed her brow. "Why not? Isn't there some sort of history book on the last war? Wouldn't that have come up as a subject?"

Malfoy hesitated. "No?"

"Oh my Merlin! Did you not even check?" Grace accused him hotly.

"Well how was I supposed to even know that?"

"Maybe use that brain you're so fond of!" She accused before huffing out a breath as she reigned in her temper. "Alright. So you didn't go to the library like a normal person to research anything there. What did you do? I assume you found out something at least?"

"I, uh, may have asked my parents."

Grace closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You asked your parents." She repeated slowly.

"Of course I did, they are the ones wearing the bloody thing aren't they?"

"Alright." Grace continued slowly, still not opening her eyes. "Ok. Did you learn anything from them?"

"Other than the fact that they now think I want it? Not so much."

"Malfoy!" Grace screamed in fury as her eyes snapped open to glare at him.

"What?" He yelled back. "I didn't think they'd take it the wrong way."

"What the bloody fuck did you think would happen? 'Hey mum, dad, last time you saw me was terrible for all of us but now I want to know everything about the dark mark so if you'd please tell me that would be brilliant, thanks'. 'Oh sure darling, let me just give you a list of all the things that could go wrong instead'. What were you thinking?" She pressed hotly.

"I was thinking that the best way to get information was to go to someone who had the mark and knew how it worked!" Malfoy argued. "I trust my parents! Not that you know what that's like."

"Piss. Off." Grace growled lowly. "Keep that up and I'll hand you over to Voldemort himself. Now, what else did you find out?"

"The Dark Lord doesn't have one and if he calls his followers, he needs one of them to do it."

Grace frowned. "Not a great solution, what if no one is around?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Being used as a summoner or being summoned by the mark is always painful. Not quite debilitating, but painful enough that you always notice. He hates it when people are late." He added on with a pale face, looking at the stalls but seeing something else.

"So," Grace said forcefully hoping to jolt Malfoy out of his memories, "I'm guessing you didn't learn much more than that."

Malfoy glanced over and shook his head. "Nobody really knows how he made them, unless I suppose you were one of the first."

"The first?"

"The original followers."

"Who are they?"

Malfoy shrugged. "Probably all the ones who he went to school with. I suppose that would include grandfather." He said thoughtfully. "And before you ask, no I can't go to him, he died some time ago."

"Shite. And it's not like we can ask any of the original ones either, they're probably still as faithful as ever."

"Thank you for your sympathies."

"Coming from the person who bullied me about my dead parents, I really don't give a shit."

Malfoy had the decency to look ashamed at that. "Yes. Well." He started awkwardly.

"Nevermind that now, at least tell me you got more than that."

"Nope."

"Malfoy, how do you expect me to help when I've got nothing to go on?"

"I can keep trying." Malfoy stated strongly. "Researching wards and spells that block the magic he put into the dark mark."

She nodded. "It's a good idea, but we'd still need to know the type of magic he used. Right now you have no way of narrowing that down and it's a fifty-fifty that he used parselmagic which means that we have absolutely no hope of undoing any of it."

"There's one other person I could ask about how the mark is made." He said hesitantly.

The way he hesitated made the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention. "I'm going to hate this aren't I?"

"Professor Snape."

She stared blankly at Malfoy before nodding slowly. "I was right. I do hate it. So. He's a Death Eater. My biological father. A Death Eater. Ah-huh. Sure. Why not."

"I don't think you're taking this very well."

Grace turned and glared at Malfoy. "I've had quite a lot of shit thrown at me this year, excuse me if this is the one time I need an extra minute to digest it!"

Malfoy put his hands up and took two steps back. "Listen, if this all goes horribly wrong, we can always go to plan C."

"I'm not going to ask what plan C is because A and B sucked enough that C will be the worst of the lot."

"I could always get the mark and then we can dissect what he did."

"Oh my gods!" Grace moaned as she dropped her head into her hands. "Are you serious? Did you hear nothing I said?"

"I heard you, but you can speak parseltongue as well which means that if we go back and look at my memory of the event then you can understand him."

Grace looked up and gave him her best blank look. "And what happens when he does it non-verbally?"

"What?"

"Silent. Casting. It's a thing, they're trying to teach it to us this year. What happens when he says nothing, you get the dark mark, and we're still at square one?"

"Um. Then I'm a Death Eater?"

"Ok, let's think this through logically. Chances are we won't ever find out exactly what the dark mark does, right?"

"Considering the only person who really knows is the Dark Lord, probably not." Malfoy conceded. "Where does that leave us?"

"The only real option we have, and the stupidest, is killing Voldemort."

"You want to kill the Dark Lord?"

"Seems like it."

"Kill him?"

"Dead."

"I thought you were supposed to have an actual plan?"

"Like I said, it's not a great plan."

"It's not a plan at all!" Malfoy protested in outrage.

"Well do you have a better one? And getting the dark mark is not one of them."

"Running away seems better."

"And risk being killed or found through the mark? Genius level that. I thought the whole point of this was not to be an orphan."

"Oh and your idea was better?" He sneered at her.

"None of our ideas are better! We're children! We have no idea how to fight a war, no idea how to go about getting information or, or, I don't know, doing anything useful! This is why we shouldn't even be bloody mixed up in this!"

"We're almost seventeen." Malfoy said softly.

"Yeah? And fat load that's going to do when we face Death Eaters with decades more experience and magic than us. What are we even doing?"

"We are trying to survive!" Malfoy said passionately. "We can help."

"How? We can't even figure out how to get your parents away from him!"

"A safe house. Every ward we can think of, every ward we can pay for."

"And when he dark marks them? We have no idea how it works, Draco! For all we know he could compel them back."

"We're not just going to sit around and wait for him to kill us off!"

"I never said we had to."

"No, you said we had to kill the Dark Lord himself. Brilliant plan."

"You said we were trying to survive." Grace said softly. "Isn't that surviving?"

"Murder?" He scoffed half-heartedly. "We're not supposed to be alone." He said after a long silence.

Grace closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. Was there anything she could say to that? She'd been doing this alone for as long as she had been alive and now, even with James on her side, she had no idea how to really ask for help. Besides that, she was a reactionary fighter, not a planner. She didn't know how to go about actually making plans to get rid of Voldemort. Not to mention she had no idea how she would amass an army big and strong enough to go against him and his forces once she found where he was hiding.

"Will you go see Professor Snape?" Malfoy asked as he came to stand beside her.

"Why?"

"He'd know about the marks. Even if it goes nowhere, it might help us later. Somehow."

Go see her biological father who still wasn't sure if he hated her or not so that they might figure out a way to either get rid of the mark or block it from working?

"Yeah." Grace said finally. "Yeah, I'll go talk to him."

"Thank you." Malfoy said on a relieved sigh.

"Hey, before you go."

"Yes?"

"Is there a spell that could control or change my thoughts and feelings?"

Malfoy looked surprised before humming in thought. "Amortentia."

Grace shook her head. "No, this would be slower, slow enough nobody notices."

"Em, there are a few potions that could change your feelings but they're all dark and borderline illegal. There might be a spell? But I think what you're looking for would most likely be some sort of cursed object that you carry around, if no one is noticing any odd behaviour. That's my guess at least."

"That's...yeah, thanks." Grace said, changing her mind about telling him how unhelpful that was.

"Sure." Malfoy said as he bobbed his head. "You'll hate me for saying it, but if you really want to know I suggest asking Professor Snape." Grace glared at him. "Don't look at me like that! He's a brilliant teacher when he's not a git. He knows a lot, you know."

"Yeah yeah, Malfoy. You ready to go or do you want hang about here some more?" Grace asked as she stepped away from the wall and headed towards the door.

"Rather not, thanks." Malfoy said with a disdainful look that had Grace rolling her eyes.

They separated quickly once leaving the lavatory and Grace couldn't help but feel relieved at that. Somehow, in the course of one conversation, he had managed to make her feel more like a lost child than the entire time she had spent with the Dursley's. She was sick of feeling helpless and unmoored but without James she had no idea of how to stop herself from feeling that way.

Maybe she could talk to Ron?

\---******---

"Hey Grace."

"Ron!" Grace said, slightly caught off guard as she looked up from her homework. "I, em, didn't see you." She added as her eyes darted around the very empty library and felt her heart drop.

Ron smirked at her, leaning against the table in a way that she knew he thought made him look nonchalant. "I was being quiet. What are you working on?"

"Defence Against Dark Arts. It's self-study for me now, so I have to keep up with the work." She said with a small smile, unnerved at the feelings she was getting as Ron smiled at her. She shouldn't like that, she shouldn't want to make him smile more, shouldn't want to get closer to him.

Ron frowned. "I heard about Snape being your father. Can't imagine any woman ever letting that git touch them."

"Someone did." Grace pointed out with a frown, insulted on her mother’s behalf. "Or I wouldn't exist."

"Yeah, course. I just meant he's horrible. So." He said as he sat down next to her. "How about a date?"

Grace blinked at him in confusion. "A date? Like, you and me?"

"Do you see anyone else here?"

"What about Lavender?"

"Oh, we're not dating, she's just there."

"She's just there.” Grace repeated, uneasy with the conversation and how close Ron was when all she wanted was for him to be across the room. “As what?"

"We have an agreement." Ron said looking irritated that he had to explain anything at all. "She doesn't care what I do and I don't care what she does."

"Aha."

"So?" Ron prodded annoyed.

"So what?" She asked, buying time by playing dumb.

"A date." He asked with far too much exasperation for her liking, like she was being stupid on purpose and should just bend to his will already.

"Oh. I can't."

"Can't?" He asked, anger in his eyes as his face flushed red.

Grace gripped her quill tightly as she cursed herself for not keeping her wand on her person. "I'm in a contract?"

"Oh, well just break it off then."

"That's...not at all how it works. I have to wait for the contract to end or I'll be breaking so-"

"Who cares?" He interrupted with a roll of his eyes. "It's not like you want to be with him anyway."

"Considering it's my future on the line if I do break it off with him? I care. Nobody would take me seriously ever again."

"So what? You've never cared about that before so why start now? Besides, you clearly want to go with me. I've heard you've been asking about me you know."

"I can't just break things off!" Grace protested. "Besides, he's not even around so I couldn't do it if I wanted to."

"You could just owl him." He suggested carelessly.

"You-you-you want me to break a year-long contract, without any explanation, _by owl_?"

"Yeah. Look," he said as he took her hand in his and stared into her eyes, "we both know you haven't been feeling the same about him for a while now. Why are you holding on to a fake relationship that you know just won't work? You don't love him, you love me now and since I'm here you won't have to wait."

Grace forced herself to swallow despite her dry throat. "Wait? Wait for what?"

"To be with me of course!"

She felt sick. This was insane, all of this was insane. Yes, she had been asking about him, could hardly stop herself from asking because it practically fell out of her mouth without consent. The absolute worst part where the growing feelings, the feelings of want and longing she had never felt for Ron before. It was sick and twisted and she knew, _she knew_, that it wasn't her. That the longing felt foreign in her blood and the want made her sick to her stomach. Somehow she was able to still know this, but she couldn't stop the thoughts, couldn't stop the feelings and it was making her feel insane. Hermione wasn't listening, Ginny brushed her off, Luna just kept telling her it would meet it's own end, but none of them were listening to her.

James was gone. The weekly mirror calls just weren't the same and on top of that they never had enough time to say anything important. Despite James' best intentions, whatever he was doing wasn't lending him enough time to connect with her properly. She couldn't rely on him. She also couldn't go to anyone else and despite what Malfoy had said, Snape wasn't someone she was willing to go to about this. Would he mock her? Tell her she was making it up for more attention? Would he even care? It wasn't long until the end of the year, she could hang on for a few more months. She had to.

"I-I need more time, Ron."

"You need what?"

"More time. This is all, has all been so sudden."

"Time." He reiterated slowly.

Grace nodded. "I knew you would understand, you always do." She laid it on thick, just to be sure his ego got stroked enough that he would leave her alone.

Ron looked at her with calculating eyes before they cleared. "Of course I do. And we wouldn't want to surprise James too much, would we? It would be better if we told him as a united front. So he can see exactly how much you love me."

"Everything ok here?" Fay Dunbar asked, giving them both odd looks before carefully putting her books down next to Grace.

"All good." Grace said with a grateful nod. "Ron here was just leaving."

"I'll see you soon Grace." Ron said as he squeezed her hand again before dropping it.

"Merlin." Fay said as they both watched him walk away. "Please don't tell me he was here the whole time? The way he keeps staring at you is disturbing."

"He's up to something." Grace said lowly. "I think I know how it's supposed to end up, but I don't know what he's doing to get there."

"So you talking to him is part of the plan?"

Grace laughed though there was no humour in it. "Far from it. I think I'm in trouble."

Fay looked at her with concern in her eyes. "Do you need help?"

Grace turned to the first person to offer her help and smiled at her. "I think I could use some help with finding out how to get him to stop harassing me."

"Oh." Fay said as she rolled her eyes. "That's easy. Just tell the person you're in a contract with."

Grace snorted at her before blinking stupidly when she realized Fay was being serious. "What?"

"Oh, er, I don't know if you know this, but the person you're in a contract with is allowed to defend your connection."

"Like duelling?"

"Merlin no, what is this, the dark ages? Like taking him to the Wizengamot."

Grace tapped her chin in thought. "So say I told the person I'm in a contract with that I want to break it off despite still having a few months left on the contract?"

"Either you two don't get along or he's going to go phoenix on a dying day."

"So the best way to get James to listen to me is by telling him I want nothing to do with him." Grace said with a thoughtful tone.

"What? No. No, nope, that is not at all what I just suggested, that's crazy. Insane. That's like, the opposite of what a good plan should look like. Don't do that. Ever. Your social standing would die a horrible death!" Fay warned her.

"Why?" Grace asked in bafflement. "The point was to pretend to break it off so he would know something was wrong, not to _actually_ break it off."

"Yeah because that sounds like a good plan, not to mention what would happen if the wrong people heard you-"

"Why would they hear? This isn't a public breaking up, no matter how fake."

"Grace," Fay said seriously, "I don't know what exactly is going on, but for the love of Morgana, don't. Do. This. No matter which way this falls, you'll be the one that gets the short end of the wand."

"Ok." Grace said with a nod and a serene smile that had Fay looking even more miserable. Which, to be fair, was probably the right of it since Grace was going to do exactly that. Gods above and below, she didn't even care if it killed Ron.

\---******---

"Thank you for joining us Lord Black-Gryffindor." Grace gave Lord Tripe a strained smile that he chuckled at before continuing on. "As you know, last we met we narrowed down our possible applicants to a mere fifty candidates. Not as many as we would have hoped for, but it will do for the first round."

"We've invited them all here to have an interview with the three of us." Lord Hitchens added.

Grace looked alarmed at that. "Erm, I thought the point was that they wouldn't know what was going on?"

Lord Tripe nodded. "That's true, which is why we are giving you a small supply of Polyjuice potion. Regulated, of course."

"Really?"

"Do you have another method of hiding your identity?" Lord Tripe asked disapprovingly.

"This way you will seem insignificant and you can catch people's reactions towards whom they consider lesser before making your final decision." Lord Hitchens jumped in, giving his colleague a stern look.

"So what's the plan? Am I supposed to be here to write things down for you while you interview them? A third party observer?"

Lord Tripe leaned back in thought as he laced his fingers over his stomach. "Ideally we would like you to have some questions of your own for the applicants. That way you can decide for yourself if you are at all willing to spend the next hundred odd years working with them. Remember, we are here to ask them personal question so you can figure out if you can work with them and they with you. Besides that, most people will generally accept your position here based on our acceptance of you being in the room with us. We do not have to assign you a position since they will simply accept your presence as one of us once they see us with our head bent together as they walk in." Lord Hitchens stated before handing her several pieces of parchment. "Those are our applicants. We will adhere to the same system as last we met. Note down the ones you deem acceptable, a maybe, and a definite no. We shall compare notes after all the interviews have been completed."

"We're going to be doing all fifty today?" Grace asked in shock.

"These interviews won't be longer than half an hour at most. We have informed them that we may not get to them in time and that they should keep their schedules open for tomorrow."

"Sometimes I really regret going through with this." Grace sighed out inaudibly.

Lord Tripe looked over with sharp eyes. "What was that?"

"A sigh of despair."

"Ah, you're ready then." Lord Tripe stated with a nod as he stood up. "I'll go let Emma know to see the first one in."

Grace turned to Lord Hitchens as he left. "That loophole you used, is it fixed?"

He smiled at her as he nodded. "I did. I would potentially feel bad if it did harm in any way-"

"-but you don't." Grace interrupted with a smirk. "I know. I even understand why you did it, but I'd rather not have the rest of them trying for loopholes that will keep us all busy for years to come."

"A fair assessment, and one I have made sure wouldn't come back to haunt us. Now," he stated as Lord Tripe entered the room once more, "these will go far more quickly than you might imagine so we wrote some standard questions down for you. That would be on the first parchment." He said as he opened his own file and pulled out the first page. "Our first interview will be with Malcolm Callahan."

Grace nodded as she remembered the name. "Right, the activist with the two sister and a brother. Wasn't he on the maybe list?"

"He was indeed." Lord Tripe stated as he sat down and opened his own file, pulling some ink and his quill closer to him. "We decided to start with our thirty-five maybe's and then work up to our fifteen yes potentials."

Lord Hitchens handed her over a small flask and directed her to drink it. Scrunching her nose up in distaste she gulped it down as quickly as she could and coughed violently once she was sure she wouldn't throw it back up. Her coughing fit did little to cover the feeling of ants crawling over her skin as it bubbled and changed. It was more unsettling the second time than it had been in her second year, and more vile to drink.

"Does the taste of the potion change according to the piece of the person you drop in there?" She asked once she settled down again.

Lord Tripe looked at her in amusement but let his partner answer. "Nothing has been determined on that front. Several well known Potioneers have discussed it, along with how making the smallest adjustment to making the potion would contribute to the taste as well but as we all know, Potioneers are decidedly prickly so I doubt we'll ever know. Are you ready Lord Black-Gryffindor?" Lord Hitchens asked as he motioned for Emma to walk in with their first interviewee.

"Mr Callahan, thank you for coming." Lord Tripe stated as he nodded respectfully, Lord Hitchens doing the same as Grace simply sat and observed. It may have been slightly sexist, but with two Lords on either side of her she would be the lesser in the room and a woman to boot, thus giving the notion that she was beneath notice and station.

"I admit I'm very curious." Callahan said as he returned the nod and then sat down across from them.

Grace looked over his file again, noticing that it was the information she remembered from last time. Activist with a hint of something possibly a little more violent.

Lord Tripe nodded politely. "You have the file we asked for?"

"I do." He answered as he pushed a file across the table.

Lord Tripe picked it up, opened it, and nodded curtly at the information before handing it over to Grace. She opened it curiously only to see the results of an inheritance test done by Gringotts, the result of which was that Malcolm Callahan had no inheritances to speak of. If he succeeded today, then he was well on his way to getting his own House.

"We have a few questions."

"So do I. Was there a reason I needed to get that?" Callahan asked, somewhat belligerently, as he nodded towards the file he gave them.

Lord Hitchens raised an eyebrow in clear reprimand. "Mr. Callahan, please do not forget your manners. You yourself gave us a vow of secrecy and have consented to this whole process."

Callahan turned a little red at the admonishment and nodded as he adjusted his glasses, folding himself into his chair before clearing his throat. "My apologies. What would you like to know?"

"You have admitted to being vocal about muggleborn discrimination, yes?" Lord Tripe asked as he observed their very first candidate.

"Oh yes." Callahan said with an eager nod, leaning forwards in his seat. "It's amazing how much of it really goes on without anyone knowing, you know? Did you know that a muggleborn has never risen to head a department in the Ministry? Or has been chosen to be on the Wizengamot? How is that even legal? Have you ever wondered why shop owners are never muggleborn or why there isn't a better transition from Hogwarts into the Wizarding world? Because we are being slighted from the very beginning!" He said hotly, clearly starting in on his rant before Lord Tripe cut him short.

"Yes, yes, very enlightening and very passionate. Would you consider yourself an activist in this matter?"

"An activist?" Callahan asked, taken aback. "I'm, I'm not sure."

"It says here that you have started a group with like minded individuals who protest against muggleborn discrimination."

Callahan nodded with a frown. "Of course, but does that automatically make me an activist? I don't see it that way. I'm trying to raise awareness in this world about how we are slighted at every turn and how we can never rise above our imagined 'stations' because this world is backwards and antiquated."

Grace rolled her eyes at that. "Have you ever been to America?"

Callahan frowned at her. "No."

"But you've heard of it? Know in large terms about the culture?"

He nodded. "Of course."

"And if you immigrated to the United States, would you set about trying to change decades worth of history and traditions?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why are you trying to do that here?"

"Because it's not America! We're still in Great Britain!"

"Are we?" Grace challenged. "We speak the same language, sure, but during your campaign did it ever occur to you to really root out why muggleborns are tossed aside as they are?"

"Because they're blood purists, that's why!" Callahan replied passionately.

"So that's a 'no' then. So you went into another society, saw what you wanted to see and declared them blood purists without doing the necessary research and now you're claiming biased and condemning their actions because you feel superior. That about cover it?"

"No! I do not feel superior at all! And I didn't go into this blindly! What exactly are you trying to do here? Is this a set up of some sort?" Callahan asked, clearly starting to get agitated.

"Calm down, Mr. Callahan." Lord Hitchens said soothingly. "We're doing nothing of the sort."

"Yeah? That's a little hard to believe with what's just been insinuated!"

"Let's move on." Lord Tripe stated curtly, clearly seeing this wasn't going anywhere good. "If given the opportunity of gaining a House, would you take it?"

"A House, like titled?"

"Let's leave the titled out of this for now."

"So like, House Callahan?"

"Indeed."

"But muggleborn never get Houses."

"Hypothetically." Lord Tripe said brusquely.

Callahan sat back with a surprised looked before taking a deep breath and thinking it over. "I'm not sure." He said slowly. "I advocate for muggleborn rights so it would be a boon but I can't help but think it would be too easy."

"Too easy?" Grace asked in surprise.

Callahan nodded. "It wouldn't mean as much, you know? Like I was taking the easy way out instead of fighting for it like I should."

Lord Hitchens looked at him for a few moments. "You realize that if this was offered to you, it would be your only chance to ever gain a House, yes? It would take decades, perhaps even hundreds of years before muggleborns are given the same rights and opportunities."

Callahan nodded slowly. "I do know that, but if I don't try and make those changes for the future generations, then what good am I?"

"If you didn't take an opportunity handed to you where you could change the institution from the inside out?" Grace asked sarcastically as she crossed out the 'maybe' next to Callahan's name and put down a firm ‘no’.

Before Callahan could react, a ding sounded in the room and Lord Tripe stood up with a smile and gestured Callahan to the door. "That was time. Thank you for making the time, Mr. Callahan. We'll be sure to contact you at a later date to follow up."

"But I don't even know what this was for!" Callahan protested as he was ushered out of the room.

"I'm very tempted to cross his name off the list simply because he's stupid." Grace grumped as she shut his file and picked up the next one.

"Being idealistic is no reason to eliminate him." Lord Hitchens pointed out as he poured himself a glass of water.

"Being bull-headed is." She countered. "He refused to see a different perspective and would deny himself a life changing opportunity that would actually help him and his cause because of his beliefs."

"So you put him on the 'maybe' list then." Lord Tripe stated as he walked in the room again. "I have as well. His character leaves something to be desired."

"Mostly I don't want to have to argue with him every time something comes up and he sees it differently than I do." Grace said with a sigh as she poured her own glass of water.

"You think he would?" Lord Hitchens inquired.

"I think he's so focused on his muggleborn campaign that he'll take any bill as a reason to fight me."

Lord Tripe nodded. "A valid concern. Let's table it for now and focus on the next candidate. Audrey Beldon."

Grace opened the next file and hoped that Audrey Beldon, 32, only child, single, and working in the Ministry, would be better than Callahan. Beldon was a plain looking woman with no distinctive features and a comfortable aura around her that made it easy to dismiss her.

"Ms. Beldon, thank you for coming."

"I'm the curious sort." She replied with a smile as she sat down. "I assume you can't tell me what this is all about?"

Lord Tripe smiled at her. "Not at the moment, no. We do have a few questions for you."

"Of course." She said with an easy nod and a small smile.

"You have stated that you were politically active."

"I did."

"Could you explain exactly what your focus is?"

She nodded. "Ever since Hogwarts, I have been a rather large supporter of creature rights and have started a career in politics to further my goals."

"Which are?"

"Preservation of life. This earth creates all creatures on it, who are we to decide whether or not they are allowed to stay?"

"Hang on," Grace interrupted, "are you advocating for _creature_ creatures or vampires and the like creatures?"

"Oh I'm sure they need all the help they can get." Beldon said as she waved her hand about in a dismissive fashion. "But they are also capable of human speech, are they not? Besides that, the amount of incredibly vocal people who back them are in the hundreds. No, I'm an advocate of those who cannot raise objections at all."

"Right." Grace said, an odd tone to her voice as she now had to reconfigure everything she had thought about the woman in front of her. "Does that mean you wouldn't advocate for vampires or werewolves if the opportunity arose?"

"In what scenario?" Beldon countered.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, if this is about a life or death situation, of course I would. If it was, say, a more political situation and I was in a position to help, well, it would very heavily depend on what was being said and if it impacted my work in any way."

"So if you had a House and had a minor seat on the Wizengamot where they were trying to pass a bill to round up all the werewolves to keep them in secure centres?" Grace pressed.

Beldon cocked her head as she considered the question. "Interesting. I suppose I would vote against it, purely based on the fact that werewolves are still people and an action like that comes awfully close to doing a Hitler."

"Hitler?" Lord Tripe asked in confusion.

"Muggle dark lord." Grace replied quickly before turning back to Beldon. "And what of other topics? I can understand that creature rights are a passion of yours but, back to the hypothetical, how politically active would you consider yourself once you had your own House to tend to?"

"Are you implying that I have only one focus? Because that's not the case. Yes, I very much care about creatures and it is my passion, but I'm no Newt Scamander. My political awareness does not start and end with creatures. If my hypothetical House was under my care, I would be active in every sense of the word."

"Creatures are your passion but politics is your career." Lord Hitchens stated with a nod.

"I have to ask," Beldon started hesitantly, "what this is all about because these questions are something police would ask if I was in some sort of trouble."

"Are you?" Grace asked.

"Not that I know of."

"Are you in a relationship? Could he be in trouble?"

"_She_ works in Hogsmeade, if you must know."

"No political leanings?" Lord Tripe asked.

Beldon did her best not to frown but it wasn't a success based on the fact she was frowning and trying not to every few seconds. "No. My girlfriend is a half-blood and cares very little for any sort of politics. She doesn't believe the Ministry can change."

"And you do?"

Beldon shrugged her shoulders. "One day it will have to. It changes each day, each year, simply through the people that run it. The difference is that it usually does so at an incredibly slow rate that most people don't notice. Do I want to be a part of that change and make something of the world I live in? Yes, I do. Realistically speaking, I probably won't get as much done as I'd like so I'll have to fight my battles and make peace with the things I can change."

"Such a creature laws."

"Exactly."

A ding sounded in the room and Lord Tripe thanked and escorted Beldon out. Lord Hitchens gave Grace the flask again, giving a pointed look to the time before Grace quickly swallowed the concoction and gulped down her glass of water. She would have loved to say that the next eighteen odd interviews went similarly, but two of them were cut short because they were downright rude and aggressive, and another three of them hadn't shown up at all. The three no-shows weren't a problem in Grace's book since she could cross them off without wasting her time, but the two aggressive candidates just angered her and caused her to linger in their actions for longer than she liked.

The rest of the interviews were boring but essentially similar. All of them wanted to know the reason they were here, some of them had political aspirations while others just wanted to be a part of their world. It was easier to pick people with political leanings since that would be what they were essentially going to do for the rest of their lives, but Grace was someone who didn't want it to be their whole life. Yes it was important, but not that important. She frankly wanted to find people who would argue with her but wouldn’t fight her on every little point.

Callahan, for instance, would fight her while Beldon would listen to her but disagree if that's what she believed. Callahan, she could tell, was a headache waiting to happen and she wasn't about to subject herself to that for the rest of their lives.

"We've been here for hours and it's almost five." Grace said, trying not to complain about her wasted Saturday. "Should we wrap this up and continue tomorrow?"

"Let's get through another two." Lord Hitchens said as he looked over the next two files. "I'd rather like to interview these two after the amount of time they had to wait rather than send them home to come back fresh tomorrow."

Lord Tripe looked up from his own files in interest. "Something caught your attention?"

"Not from their files." Lord Hitchens said as he sat back. "I caught a glance of these two while I went to the restrooms earlier and I have a few reservations based on their behaviour."

"Which was?" Grace asked with some concern.

Lord Hitchens waved absently. "No, no, no. I won't taint your opinions before they enter. We want to give them all a fair shot."

"But you already tainted them." She pointed out.

"Only to myself. I have raised concerns, that is true, and perhaps that will cause you to look for faults, but without knowing my concerns I feel reasonably alright stating my concerns." Lord Hitchens stated as he waved Emma in with the next candidate.

"You planned this!" Grace muttered in an accusing tone as Blythe Edge was led into the room.

"Only a little my dear." Lord Hitchens said with a wink and a wide smile. "Ms. Edge, please come in. Thank you for your patience."

"I know you said all day, but this is a little ridiculous!" Edge said with a huff as she sat down, glaring at them as she reached for the jug of water in front of her and poured out a glass, downing it quickly before refilling it again.

"They didn't have water in the waiting room?" Grace asked in a dubious tone.

"Of course they did, the sitting and waiting just doesn't-it's hard, you know."

"No, I have no idea what it's like to sit in the same chair for hours on end while speaking with every person out in that waiting room." Grace replied sarcastically, leaning back in her chair and giving the belligerent woman a hard glare.

"Oh Merlin, I've given you all the worst impression haven't I?" Edge said, suddenly on the verge of tears as she looked at the three of them helplessly. "I'm so sorry, this really isn't like me at all!"

Lord Tripe's severe expression suddenly cleared as amusement took its place. "How far along are you?"

"Just over four months. I'm not really showing and it’s my first pregnancy, but the medi-witch assured me this was absolutely normal! I don't believe a word of it!" Edge said unhappily as she sniffed dramatically into a tissue Lord Hitchens provided her. "I cried yesterday when my husband brought me flowers because I was upset that they had been murdered just so he could give them to me! Never once in my life have I been this emotional and it seems it's all pouring out of me, a lifetime's worth of it."

"Have you eaten?" Lord Tripe asked kindly.

Edge nodded and managed to smile. "I packed a few snacks as well. I'm so sorry about this."

"Perfectly understandable. How about we make this quick then?" Lord Tripe asked as Edge nodded quickly. "You are on the verge of gaining your own House."

"Oh. Well, not me exactly, but my husband and I. He works for the Ministry, Invention Licensing, and I own my own store at the edge of Diagon Alley."

"At the edge?"

"Well, it's in Knockturn Alley because it was really the only place we could afford that didn't mind us being muggleborns you see, but people generally get funny about Knockturn so I say at the edge because it's just a turn away."

"What sort of shop is it?" Grace asked with interest.

"Lamps." Edge said proudly, puffing up her chest. "All the lamps you could ever imagine! Only for home use of course, partly because I haven't gotten a big contract yet, but I'm in the works with a few companies so I'm very positive about it all."

Grace could tell she didn't believe a word of it but said it because it sounded good to potential buyers. "A House would help with that."

Edge nodded sadly. "We almost have enough money to get one too, what with us being careful with our spending, only it's so hard to get one. All these hoops you have to jump through, licenses you have to get, approval to get the licenses."

Lord Hitchens nodded sadly. "Indeed. I, myself, went through that very same process."

"Did it work?" Edge asked hopefully.

Lord Hitchens cleared his throat, not wanting to lie to her but also not able to give her false hope. "I got my House." He eventually settled for.

"A few more questions, Mrs. Edge." Lord Tripe interjected. "Is gaining a House only important for your business?"

Edge huffed in thought. "Yes? Yes, essentially. It would help me open doors I wouldn't get through now. It's why we've been working so hard for this. I want us both to succeed in the Wizarding world. Matthew was passed over for promotion three times already, did you know? He was better suited for the position all three times but they felt he just wasn't ready. I just know if we can only get a House that they would promote him. It would make him so much happier. Not that he isn't happy now, just that...well, it's hard you know."

"Yeah." Grace said quietly. "We know."

"Thank you for meeting with us, Mrs. Edge." Lord Tripe said graciously as he stood up and led the woman out.

"Geez, out of all of them, that one sort of hit me all over." Grace said sadly. "Do you think she even knows the reason why they'll always _just_ miss out on...everything?"

Lord Hitchens clicked his tongue angrily as he stood up and took a lap around the room. "I think the husband is getting a fairly good idea but is trying to keep his wife's hopes up."

"Or she's trying to keep it together for him." Grace added as she watched him pace. "I probably should have asked her this, but do you think she'd care about the politics of it all?"

"From what she has mentioned, her greatest wish is for her business to do well. If you do give her one of your Houses, I suspect her husband will be the one to take the reigns."

"Should I be worried about that? Or should we be interviewing him instead?"

Lord Hitchens stopped as he considered Grace. "You are giving her the House, not him. I can reconfigure her contract so that it specifies that she must take up the political side of it if it worries you at all. We have done our due diligence and nothing has popped up about the husband."

"So I would essentially make her do it?"

"No, you would have the option of forcing her into the role she chose if her husband becomes obstinate."

"Ah. I mean, that would make them both really frustrating to work with."

"Which we already have a clause about." Lord Hitchens pointed out as Lord Tripe walked back into the room.

"I stand by my earlier assessment of Mrs. Edge." Lord Tripe stated as he sat down and pulled out the last file for the day. "Shall we finish this?"

"Please!" Grace groaned as Lord Hitchens sat down next to her as the last candidate for the day entered the room.

Doug Reed was, according to the file in front of her, forty-eight, married, two children (both grown and out of Hogwarts) and working for a private company that focused on charms.

"Mr. Reed, thank you for your patience." Lord Hitchens stated as he gestured for the man to take a seat.

"Hm, yes." Reed replied non-committally.

Grace felt her eyebrows rise in disbelief as she looked at Lord Tripe's reaction out of the corner of her eye. Seemed like Lord Hitchens' feeling about this one might be valid.

"You stated earlier that your work focuses on Charms, correct?" Lord Hitchens continued on, seemingly not bothered.

"Correct."

All three of them paused, waiting for some more information but the longer the silence stretched, the more satisfied Reed seemed to become.

Lord Tripe frowned. "Could you explain a little about your work?"

"I'm afraid that's against company policy." Reed stated, seemingly apologetic but Grace had the feeling he was anything but.

"What about the company itself then?" Grace asked, watching him closely.

Reed looked her over once and dismissed her, giving his answer to Lord Tripe instead. "Blooming Balloons is an innovate company. They use a multitude of magical knowledge and practical practices to create new and exciting items. I'm sure you've researched them."

Grace wasn't a fan. She was a very big not-fan and his attitude towards them made her want to curse him into next week, preferably with something that needed a counter curse that wouldn't be obvious so it would last longer. What a prick. She rolled her eyes and closed her folder, leaning back in her seat and crossed her arms as she glared at him. "What, exactly, are you doing here?" She demanded as she glowered at him.

Reed looked taken aback. "Excuse me?"

"You very clearly do not want to be here, so why did you stay?"

"I want to know what this is all about."

"You made a vow stating you wouldn't divulge any information you gathered here, correct?"

"Yes."

"And you made the choice to come in three previous times, yes?"

"Yes."

"You also made the choice to sit in that waiting room for almost eleven hours, right?"

Reed clenched his teeth. "Yes."

"Then why are you sitting here, giving us smug little non-answers and pretending we need you more than you need us? You have no idea what this is about and you have no idea how your attitude would affect our decision yet here you sit as if we are the ones who have something to answer for."

"Do you have any idea of the things I've had to give up just to be here?" Reed asked aggressively, as if his choices had been hindered because of them.

"Which, once again, was your choice. Just as all the other applicants had the same choice. Three, as it happens, didn't show up. That was their choice. To sit in front of us, after such a bloody long day and try your hand at, what? A power play? What's the point? Why are you even here? And don't give us the 'I want to know what this is about' because that's bullocks at this point."

"I know what this is about and I want it!" Reed replied with a raised voice.

Grace rolled her eyes. "Want what? A free vacation?"

"A House! I want a House." Reed exclaimed, banging his fist on the table as he stared at them all.

"Do you not already have one?" Lord Tripe asked curiously. "We do have an address for you, are you telling us that information is incorrect?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it! I want what's due to me, after all these years trying to comply to a stupid system that has kept me from rising in the ranks."

Grace sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, suddenly understanding what he was trying to do. She idly supposed this was what would happen to Mr Edge down the line, turned bitter and full of rage at the injustice laid before him without any opportunity to change it. She also knew that she wouldn't, _couldn't_, give Reed a House. Best scenario was that he calmed down and boasted and pea-cocked about his new House, at worst he would use his new found status to belittle and bully those he felt were now beneath him. He was a loose cannon waiting to explode and she wasn't going to be put in the position to be responsibility for the eventual explosion.

"Mr. Reed, I'm afraid you've very much been misinformed about what we are trying to do here." Lord Hitchens said gently.

"Am I? Am I? Because I paid close attention and I listened to the people who walked out of this room. I pieced it together you know, and I can go to the newspapers!"

"There it is." Grace sighed as she finally looked up. "Did you forget the vow? Also, we're in an attorneys office, what exactly made you think this was a 'blackmail' sort of situation?"

Reed blustered a little but Grace was done, so she looked pointedly at the two men next to her before Lord Hitchens was standing up and thanking the man for his time before escorting him out. The door closed behind them and Grace sighed in relief. "Tosser."

"Watch your language." Lord Tripe said lightly.

"So is that it?" Grace asked as she checked the time. "Because I have about ten minutes left of the Polyjuice and I'd rather not have to drink it again if it's all the same to you."

"No more interviews today." He replied with a smile as he gathered up his folders. "Sadly, we do have to compare notes on the people we have interviewed today."

Grace nodded, already having foreseen that. "We're waiting for Lord Hitchens, right?"

"We are." Lord Hitchens answered as he strode into the room. "Thankfully it's not a long wait since I'm already here. Shall we begin with the first or the last?"

Lord Tripe hummed as he studied the folders in front of them. "A different suggestion. We make a list of the twenty-three people we saw today on the left and our decisions on the right."

Grace looked confused. "You want us to lay down our parchments and compare that way?"

"It would be easier. This way we would only have to advocate for those we said 'yes' to if we disagree, while keeping the 'maybe' candidates on a separate parchment that we can revisit once we finish the rest of the interviews."

Grace and Lord Hitchens nodded before all three of them spent the next few minutes writing down their favourites. Once Grace had finished, she noticed that not many of the previous 'maybe' people had transferred to the 'yes' column. A handful had changed to 'no', but most of them had stayed in the 'maybe' for one reason or another. As soon as the others had finished, they put their parchments together and quickly went down the list of people they had seen today.

"So we have a 'yes' for Taylor, Beldon, Roberts, White, Harris, Edge, and Powell. All agreed?"

"Yes." Grace and Lord Hitchens echoed together.

"Fine. The 'maybe' list is as follows; Hall, Edwards, Thompson, Walker, Butler, Perry, Henderson, Collins, Sanders, Richardson, and Cooper. All agreed?"

"Yes." Grace and Lord Hitchens echoed again.

"Well then, that concludes our day today. I suggest we all go home and regroup, tomorrow will be another long day."

Grace nodded gratefully as she handed off her files to a still perky Emma before she said her goodbyes and used the floo to get back to Hogwarts. Honestly, when she started this whole thing she really hadn't thought too much about how it would all play out. She had never really expected to play a role in giving away her houses and she never thought her own attorneys would be adamant that she be involved at all. She understood their reasoning of course, but still being underage despite her emancipation she figured they would see her as such as well. After a long day like today she didn't know if she liked that or if she hated it.

\---******---

She walked through the rivers of blood as screams wrenched through the night air, explosions and fires raging around him. She gleefully stepped in puddles of blood and body parts, relishing the destruction around her. She enjoyed unleashing her most loyal and watching their violence bloom in beautiful arches around them all. It was also a perfect way to force their hands if she noticed any that stayed behind more often than the others. They were hers to control, hers to direct, and hers to punish. She enjoyed the control she had over them, enjoyed the torture, the screams, the fear, enjoyed watching the havoc her followers created if it wasn’t for one thing.

It was getting boring.

There was no joy in the revels anymore, merely a means to an end and it was starting to grate on her nerves. She could ferret out the men loyal to her and torment those who still had second thoughts and make examples of them, but the muggles were like rats and multiplied far too quickly for her fun to be of any true consequence.

What she really needed, what she really wanted, was for her plans to finally come together. She wanted the Wizarding world quaking at her feet and it was time to show them how insignificant they really were. It was time for her to go after a greater adversary, though still lesser in her mind.

The witches and wizards that opposed her rule. They had magic, could fight back, creating a far greater challenge than the muggles she had been playing with up till now. Her real goal was the Ministry, the one institution that stood between her and success. If these past few revels had taught her anything, it was that the Ministry was far too incompetent to really do anything. Aurors came hours too late and bumbled around like idiots. Mudbloods were allowed to roam free like they weren't the worst kind of scum, worse than even muggles. They didn't belong in her world, weren't even grateful for the gift of magic that had been bestowed on them. She would show them, she would teach them exactly why they were lesser and then make sure they always remembered.

It wouldn't be long now.

This world was ready to fall at her feet.

\---******---

"Just remember," Lord Tripe coached her, "we are here to hand over the paperwork necessary to facilitate the transfer of your thirty-one Houses. We have done our parts, now it is up to the goblins to do the rest."

Grace sighed deeply and nodded. "I hope you remember that when we get there."

"Do you foresee any problems?"

"My account manager isn't exactly the friendliest." Grace said carefully.

"Most goblins aren't. Nevertheless, they shall be informing the recipients of their new responsibilities."

"Shouldn't we be asking them if they accept it first?"

"Between us and the goblins, the goblins are the one they would trust."

Grace nodded as she thought back to her own discovery. "Fair enough. What happens if they don't accept? We've kind of been working with the idea that they will, but they don't have to and some of them could choose not to."

Lord Tripe nodded along as she spoke. "Indeed, that is a possible outcome and we have a few names on the list in case of that very scenario."

"But you don't think that will be necessary." Grace deduced.

"I do not. Aside from people like Callahan who view this as 'too easy', most muggleborn witches and wizards would jump at this opportunity because they know that this is a once in a lifetime occasion."

"Which is why I grabbed mine as soon as I could." Lord Hitchens said as he joined them. "Also a reason we eventually decided not to go with Callahan." He reminded them as they ascended the stairs to the bank.

"Just as well." Lord Tripe said with a nod.

"Sunday was too long without putting Callahan on the list too.” Grace griped as she thought back on the longest weekend of her life. “He's not in the maybe one is he?"

"He is not. Have you forgotten the list already?"

"Honestly, I don't even remember what happened that weekend because it was one long line of people."

Lord Tripe and Lord Hitchens chuckled, probably thinking that she was joking in some way, but at this point all those faces were a blur of images and voices.

Once inside they made their way to the tellers and stood in line to wait for their turn. In Grace's humble opinion, each goblin was put on this earth to piss off as many witches and wizards as they could. A theory that always made itself known by how annoyingly long each wait was. The tellers usually left people waiting (even when it was their turn) for a full three agonizing minutes before turning their sharp attention on the poor person in front of them. After a long disdainful look and a grunt (with what she always suspected was an insult) one would usually get what they were after and thank all the gods in existence that they wouldn't have anything to do with goblins for the foreseeable future. If they were lucky. Grace was never that lucky which was the reason she was currently seated across from Nagnok with Lord Tripe and Lord Hitchens sitting to each side of her.

"You're back." Nagnok said with a heavy dose of disappointment that Grace felt compelled to be offended by.

"On business." She said as she narrowed her eyes.

"I would not have allowed you in here if you thought it was social."

"Charming. Can we get to the point already?"

"Fine. You've made almost no progress in emptying any of the letter vaults and I see here you haven't even attempted to go to the gift vaults."

"Hang on a minute! When I said business, that's not what I meant!"

"That's your business, I have mine. We did an audit of all the vaults in your name that have housed 'fan mail' and have come to the conclusion that we are going to merge them all into one vault."

"Erm. Ok? Why are you telling me this?"

"You agree, good."

"Did I? Or were you vague on purpose so I wouldn't ask questions?"

Nagnok grunted. "Is that your question?"

"Why are you putting the 'fan mail' vaults into one vault?"

"Gringotts business is not your business witch."

"And yet you made it my business so tell me why."

"You have ten vaults that could be used for other clients."

"I'd like to point out that those vaults are being used and paid for. We also have an existing agreement about the letters and if that changes because you messed with the vaults, I will hold you personally responsible and will demand a full refund."

Nagnok narrowed his eyes at her and spit out something in gobbledygook before grinding his teeth. "Fine. The vaults will remain as they are. Next."

"Fantastic." Grace started before Nagnok cut her off.

"You have been added to Severus Snape's personal vault. He requested you get a key."

Grace never knew she could completely loose any and all functions of her brain before. "I'm sorry, he did what?"

"Idiot magic users! Do your ears have problems hearing?" Nagnok asked before opening a box to his left and slamming an object down in front of him but far enough that she could reach it without having to drape herself over his desk. "The key!" He grunted in disapproval. “Why anyone would grant you access to their vaults is a mystery.”

"This is a key to Severus Snape's vault." Grace stated as she stood up and took the key.

"Yes."

She stared at the small key in her hand. "His personal vault."

"Yes."

"That he gave me access to."

Nagnok merely stared at her as he pulled out the longest dagger she had ever seen, placing it in front of him and smiling nastily at her when she eyed it in trepidation.

"I'm going to take this and after we're done with my business I'm going to have a long conversation with you about all of this. Besides, isn't there some sort of privacy thing between us? Where you can't talk about this with other people?" Grace asked feebly as she sat down again and slipped into her chair wishing it would make her invisible.

"Did you bring them in here with you?" Nagnok demanded

"Yes?"

"Then it's not my problem."

"But these are private matters!"

"Then you should not have brought people with you."

"But what if it was important?"

"Why would you bring people with you to your account manager that you did not trust, idiot witch?"

Lord Tripe cleared his throat before Grace could answer and gave her a pointed look. "Perhaps we should move on to the purpose of our meeting?"

"You have a purpose other than to be bothersome?"

Grace sighed weakly. "We came here so that we could set up a transfer of the thirty-one minor Houses that I...own."

"Transfer? Transfer of what?" Nagnok asked suspiciously.

"The Houses. I'm, uh, giving them away."

"Giving them away." Nagnok said slowly as he narrowed his eyes.

"Obviously not for free, that would be stupid. They're subservient to my Houses for a hundred years, some two hundred."

"I see. No."

"No? What do you mean 'no'?"

"Your reasoning is stupid, so I refuse to help."

Grace grit her teeth. "Nagnok, this is not a discussion. I will be giving away these houses."

"Which is idiotic! Who gives away earned money? Not even giving away, throwing! I refuse."

"But we already went over this!" Grace protested. "I gave my attorneys access and you all determined that it was far too much for me to handle! You agreed."

"I did not."

"I'm going to kill you."

Nagnok bared his teeth. "You may try, weakling."

"Alright, let's all take a deep breath." Lord Tripe stated as his eyes darted from Grace to Nagnok. "This is a business arrangement, not a battle."

Grace snorted. "Fat load you know."

"I say!" Lord Tripe uttered, thoroughly insulted.

"Right, enough of that." Lord Hitchens interrupted. "Before we do anything further why don't we go over what we want to accomplish today?"

"Wasting more time?" Nagnok sighed. "I will charge you next time for my time."

Grace barred her teeth in defiance. "I refuse to pay."

"Then you will not see me." Nagnok smiled, showing all his very pointy teeth.

"I could always get someone else to take over my accounts." She threatened in return.

"By whose authority child? Are you a goblin? Are you a citizen of the goblin nation?"

"It's my money!"

"It's my country, my land. We house your riches for a fee and we can just as easily refuse to house it if it suits us."

"Well, this is clearly getting us nowhere so I will forge on ahead. Last we contacted the goblin nation we informed you that we were conducting interviews into various people who would benefit from their own House as well as support House Black-Gryffindor in all of her endeavours." Lord Hitchens stated as he opened the bag he carried with him and started to pull out file after file. "These individuals are the culmination of that search and these are the people that will take over the Houses in question."

"And why should I bother with these?"

"You will do so because handing these over will gain you another thirty-one accounts."

Nagnok's eyes gleamed with delight. "Is that so."

"Not only that, but each of these Houses have a fair amount of gold that Lord Black-Gryffindor has managed to invest."

"Billions." Nagnok said suddenly, beady eyes boring into Grace's. "You underdeveloped child! What kind of creature gives away a fortune like this!"

Grace grit her teeth. "I'm not going over this again."

"What is your purpose here?" Nagnok asked Lord Tripe instead.

"We have an authenticated letter from the goblin nation that states you will take over the transfer of titles and holdings to the assigned people."

"Within the next month." Grace added shrewdly, already knowing he would take his sweet time if they let him.

Nagnok grunted but ignored her statement. "Is that all?"

"No." Lord Hitchens replied pleasantly. "We would like you to monitor these accounts for the next fifty years. For a fee, of course."

Nagnok narrowed his beady eyes. "Once you transfer ownership you relinquish that right."

"We would, generally, if each and every person hasn't already signed a contract that stipulated they agreed with this course of action."

"Why should I do this?"

"If you do not, the mismanagement of these accounts would reflect badly on you."

"Fine. Now get out."

"Hang on! You don't even know if that's all we were after!"

"You have more business?"

"I'd like to know what you're going to do to accomplish all of this, yes."

"We send letters to the wizards on the list, they come here, they accept Houses."

"And? That's it?"

"That's all it is." Lord Tripe said with a nod.

"But...but...all our hard work! This is what it comes down to?"

"It comes down to you having a less stressful workload going into your final year, your N.E.W.T. year if I remember correctly." Lord Hitchens reminded her.

"At this point the goblins will be doing all the heavy lifting. Not only will they register and authenticate your relinquished Houses with their new owners, but they will also register them with the Ministry and sort all the little details that would take us years to do." Lord Tripe added as he stood up.

"I will send you the bill." Nagnok stated as he pushed them out of his office.

"Bill?!" Grace asked with a raised voice. "What bill?"

"Not to worry, just the usual fare for this sort of thing."

"Tell that to the last bill I had to pay for using their attorneys."

"You used a goblin attorney?" Lord Hitchens asked in surprise.

"Trust me," Grace said with a shake of her head, "that was a one time only sort of deal."

"I should say so!" Lord Hitchens exclaimed. "Goblin attorneys are extremely expensive."

"Yeah.” Grace groused. “I know that now."

"Oh dear." Lord Hitchens replied with a twitch of his lips.

Grace shrugged as they navigated their way through the myriad of hallways to get back to the bank lobby. "Is it really that easy now? Just letting the goblins take care of it all for us?"

"I would hardly say it was that easy." Lord Tripe started. "Not with the amount of legwork we had to go through to get to this point, but essentially yes. We will continue to monitor the situation, however we do not doubt that by the end of the month you will be far poorer than when you started and thirty-two Houses lighter."

"I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad to be getting rid of all them."

Lord Tripe hummed in amusement. "We thought you might."

"You have a very odd relationship with your account manager." Lord Hitchens remarked as they walked out of the bank.

"You mean you don't fight over every little detail with your account manager?"

"I do not. Though I must confess that my account manager was that of my father's as well as I grew up coming here with my father."

Grace furrowed her brow as she contemplated this. "Are you saying that the reason he fights me is because he doesn't trust me?"

"Perhaps. Or perhaps he just doesn't like you very much."

"I think both are terrible options." Grace groused as they made their way to the Leaky Cauldron. "Fucking goblins."

"Quite." Lord Tripe said with far too much amusement, not even bothering to hide his laughter from her as they parted ways.

\---******---

"You added me to your vaults?" Grace said accusingly as she barged into Snape's empty classroom.

Snape glanced up from his desk before putting down his quill and staring at her. "I did."

"Why? Why would you do that?"

"You are my daughter."

Grace barked out a harsh laugh. "Oh please, not this again. I'm a child that is biologically yours, not your daughter. Daughter implies you raised me, which, let's recap, you didn't. Not to mention the fact that you have no intention of having any sort of relationship with me at all."

"That is not my decision." Snape countered.

"Isn't it?" She asked hotly. "Maybe it was my imagination where you said that you wanted the last piece of my mother. Doesn't sound like you wanted a relationship with me at all."

"You misconstrued my words." Snape replied passively, angering her only more.

"Oh, of course I did. Like how right after that you called me a spoilt brat who likes the fame with how arrogant I am, right? Heard that wrong too did I?"

"Was that the purpose of this visit? To throw my words back at me?"

"What do you want from me Snape?" Grace demanded as she slammed her fists on his table. "What are you playing at? I don't need your stupid vaults! I don't need you pretending you suddenly care, and I don't need you faking wanting to be a parent when we both know you want nothing to do with me!"

"I never said I wanted nothing to do with you."

"You say it all the fucking time! Like the time you told me I was a waste of space, just like my father." She sneered at him.

Snape sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose. "You cannot keep throwing this in my face."

"So I should pretend you weren't horrible to me just because we share DNA?"

"You could let me make amends now I know the truth."

Grace growled in frustration, his calm demeanour only riling her up more. "Take it back!"

"Take what back?"

"The vaults, take it back! I don't need them and I don't want them or any sick games you're trying to play!"

"None the less, you will still have access to them."

"And if I drained them dry? Then what huh?"

Snape raised an eyebrow as he steepled his fingers. "I am the one in control of the vaults, you would not be able to do that."

"What. Do. You. Want?"

"Nothing."

"Bullshit!" Grace yelled. "You want something!"

"Perhaps I want an opportunity to get to know my daughter. Perhaps I want to provide what little I can for all the years I missed out on."

"Too little too late."

"I didn't even know you existed!" Snape yelled, standing up in one swift movement and towering over her. "You sneer and yell at me for all my faults but you never deign to take into consideration the fact that I. Did. Not. Know! They took you from me! They took my memories of you and your mother and I'm left with the tatters of our relationship during our school years. I may never know how your mother and I resolved our differences, how you were even conceived! Did I know about you? Did I love you? You were robbed from me." He said, emotion so heavy in his voice Grace could almost feel it. "I never even knew what I lost and must now live with the fact that my life could well have been a happy one. I shall never even know who took my memories from me. I disliked you because of what you represented, because James Potter seemingly stole everything I had ever wanted, only to find out I stole everything from him! I was the one with everything and I don't even have the slightest wisp of a memory to corroborate that fact! You are my child and you stand before me a stranger! A stranger that hates me, so forgive me for attempting to provide the simple basics for my offspring while I deal with the fact that my whole life was ripped from me!"

Grace swallowed thickly as she stared at a grieving Snape. She didn't like him, at all, but he did have a small point and she was sort of feeling sorry for him. "It was Sirius." She whispered, hardly knowing the reason she was even trying to help him.

"What was that?" Snape asked, his head snapping towards her.

"I got a letter, some time ago. I-It was Sirius that took your memories."

"The mutt. Black did this to me? He's the reason I lost everything?" Snape asked so dangerously that Grace took two steps back in self-preservation.

"I should go." She said quickly. "I'll, er, come back later to-to talk about the whole vault thing." She said on a gulp as his face became stormier by the second and the press of magic became an actual weight on her shoulders. "Yep, time to go." She winced as she practically ran out the door and down the corridor, not stopping when she heard several loud crashing and an angry bellow.

She didn't like him, couldn't even begin to think about forgiving him for the hell he put her through for the past six years, but when she thought about it logically (and why did she keep doing that?) she realized that they were in the same boat. Because of Sirius and James’ interference, they both lost out on the opportunity to be raised in a loving home. It wasn't a guarantee of course, that either of their lives would have been loving since her mother had died, but it was the missed opportunity that stung the most. The what-could-have-been that drove her insane at night, wondering how different they both would have been given the opportunity.

Sad point was that neither of them were those fictional people. Snape was a bully and Grace grew up rough and unloved. There was no way to undo what had been done and now they both had to live with the consequences of other people's reckless and selfish actions.

\---******---

Nobody was listening to her fears, nobody was paying attention to how she was changing. They gave her odd looks when she sat with Ron, side-eyes when she mentioned him, but somehow they thought nothing of these actions. She felt like her back was against the wall and every move she made was wrong. She had held off Ron for the past few months but she was quickly wearing thin and she didn't know how much longer she could hold on.

She would have gone back to Snape out of pure desperation but he had decided that avoiding her was the best course of action. While not surprising considering their last conversation, it was extremely annoying and she didn't have the will or patience to hunt him down. He wanted to avoid her when she was in the middle of yet another crisis? Fine, but then he shouldn't be surprised that she was going keep the animosity going strong.

"Grace! There you are!" Hermione called out to her as she made her way to the Great Hall.

"Yep. Here I am."

"Listen." Hermione said quietly as she pulled her to the side, out of line of sight from the people sitting down for breakfast.

"Is this about James or Dumbledore conspiring to kill Remus? Because I have to tell you, I'm really not in the mood to debate you on this."

"No that's not what-wait, what do you mean 'debate me'? You don't even know what I'm going to say!" Hermione protested as she shot an angry look at Grace before she took a deep, somewhat calming breath, and continued. "No. I'm here because I was looking up some things about...Ron." She said so softly that Grace had to lean in to hear her.

"Ron?" Grace asked in confusion before her eyes grew large with understanding as she gripped Hermione's wrists. "You believe me? You think there's something wrong too?"

"Grace, in all the years I've known you, you've never had a romantic bone in your body for Ron."

"Strange thing to say."

"So when you started to mention him, say hi to him almost every time you see him, watch him if he's near you, yes I'm going to pay attention."

"But you never said anything! I thought I was going crazy!"

"Of course I didn't say anything! What's the first thing I do when we're in trouble?"

"Tell me I'm an idiot?"

"I mean, you are, but no. I research."

"You...ooohhhh. Nope. I don't see it. That's just you."

Hermione rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Honestly, you need to pay better attention. If we had a conversation about your suspicions the way we always do, I would have gone to the library and researched everything I could have gotten my hands on. You would have been extra vigilant and jumping at anything and everything. Both of us would have lost sleep and the entire tower would have known something was up."

"So instead I was the twitchy, sleep losing crazy person instead of the both of us?"

Hermione nodded. "Exactly! This way I got to research your problem without making it look like I was researching your problem so that it wouldn't get back to Ron."

"So you really do think its Ron?"

"If it's not him then he's been doing a bang up job of being really creepy. We've all noticed."

"But you've done nothing!" Grace hissed out in anger and frustration.

"Because if he knows we're on to him, he could have changed the object!" Hermione said, urging her to understand and gripping Grace's wrists in return to emphasis the importance of her plan.

"What object?" Grace asked in exasperation. "You're making a mess of telling me what the fuck is going on!"

"Ok, ok!" Hermione said as she shook Grace's hands off her wrists in order to hold them out in a placating manner. "Let me start from the beginning then."

"How novel of you."

"You started asking about Ron, started dropping him in conversations, started to say hi to him and sit next to him and smile at hi-"

"Alright!” Grace interrupted quickly. “I don't think we need a play by play!"

"It just goes to show that I knew something was wrong. Not only did you never feel that way for him, you also thought I was the one who had feelings for him. Not to mention the fact that since James showed up you haven't even glanced at another man. Zero interest."

"He's..." Grace trailed off helplessly.

"Yeah." Hermione said flatly. "We all know what he is. Not the point though. The point is that it was suspicious and then you told me something was wrong and that you were thinking of Ron in ways you've never even thought of him."

"And this somehow relates to the research and the not telling me?"

"If you say something is wrong, something is wrong. I think I learned that lesson the hard way."

"You and me both." Grace grumped.

"So I couldn't tell you, but I had Luna looking out for you and I had Fay make sure to be there when I knew the rest of us would be busy or late. That way we'd always have eyes on you."

"What about Ginny?"

Hermione winced at that. "I didn't tell her. She said you were acting off but this is her brother! I've read enough about sibling bonds to know she'd choose Ron over us."

"Hypothetically you mean."

"I wasn't going to test it if that's what you’re getting at." Hermione stated with a slight frown. "I didn't exactly tell Fay and Luna either, but we all knew something was going on."

"So you researched while the others kept watch of me." Grace said with a nod as she summarized Hermione's far too elaborate explanation. "Great. And? What did you find?"

"A whole host of potions and spells and objects. I went through the potions first because those were the easiest to see physical results. Also it would have the easiest to pick up on since I made sure to eat with you at every meal and I haven't seen you with any sort of snack you didn't take from the Great Hall or buy yourself."

"So no potions in my system, that's great. Also something I had Madam Pomfrey check me for, but it's nice to be sure."

"How snarky of you." Hermione said blandly. "Spells were a bust too, if you're in any way interested in knowing."

"I'd like to point out that this whole time you were doing your own thing while not telling me, I made plans of my own."

"Yes I heard. Fay said it was social suicide and that's why I'm here."

"To give me a rundown of all the things you did to help without telling me you were helping me so I wouldn't feel isolated and alone and make plans of my own to solve this mystery?"

Hermione blinked at her in surprise. "When you say it like that it sounds horrible."

"And you think it hasn't been? Hermione, I've gone to you so many times to tell you that I've been feeling like I'm going crazy because I like Ron of all people, and you waved me away like it was nothing! You can't seriously think I'd just sit around and do nothing do you?"

"Yes?" Hermione hedged.

"I don't think your plan was thought out all that great."

"Par for the course then. Listen, we'll get back to that later, but right now we need to-"

"Grace." A male voice interrupted them, both girls turning to the voice as a gust of wind crashed over them.

"James." Grace said breathlessly as Hermione ground her teeth in annoyance. "You're here."

James smiled at her in a way that had relief rolling over her. "Did you miss me darling?"

"Like you wouldn't bloody believe!" Grace said on a choked laugh as she threw herself into his arms.

"Lord Potter, welcome back." Hermione said, a tinge of annoyance in her voice as Grace and James separated.

"Am I interrupting something?" James asked even though it was clear he didn't care.

"Yes." Hermione stressed, balled fists at her side.

"No." Grace replied right after, not caring for Hermione's reasons because her plan, while crude and probably not horrible, wasn’t something she could rely on. James, on the other hand, she could.

"I'm sorry it took me so long." James mumbled as he pulled Grace into his arms again.

"Five months is a long time." Grace agreed as she squished herself in his arms and prayed to all the gods she had ever heard of that he’d never let her go.

"We had the mirrors." James said lightly even as he tightened his arms around and somehow pulled her in closer.

Grace was shaking and she didn’t even know why but she couldn’t stop herself. "Not good enough. A lot happened James."

"What kind of things?" He asked sharply, suddenly more alert as he pulled back to see her face.

"James I-" Grace stuttered out as movement by the door caught her eye. Ron appeared by the door and froze at the sight in front of him. He narrowed his eyes as they darted from Grace to James and back again. His eyes grew dark as his face flushed and Grace quickly took a step back from James. "I need to say something to you."

James frowned at her, eyes tracing her face as he looked for anomalies. "Grace, are you alright?"

"I need to break off our contract." Silence met her ears as her eyes darted to Ron and the floor in front of her.

"What?" He asked with a deadly sort of softness that made her sigh in relief because here was evidence that she was going to be alright.

Grace lowered her head to stare at the floor as she bit her lip. If she wanted this to work, she had to continue the damn ruse. "I think I want to dissolve our contract."

"Is that so?” James asked, almost pleasantly. “And your reasoning?"

Grace lifted her head and her eyes darted towards Ron again, watching them with a casual air and a smug face. “I don't think we're compatible.” She said finally, her fingers twitching for her wand as her eyes found the floor again. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she wished with every last cell in her body that he would fight for her.

"I see." He said softly as he followed her eye line and found Ron. He straightened up and his wand appeared between his fingers, twirling and shifting as he relaxed. "Oh darling," he purred smoothly, "you know better than to think I'd ever let you go." Between one blink and the next, he shot a spell towards Ron at the same moment Snape walked through the doors.

\---******---

Icy limbs wrapped around her neck, holding her close, holding her tight, holding her hostage.

They claimed her, made her want, made her need, made her _hate_.

They didn't feel right, didn't feel welcome and yet they crawled all over her as if she was theirs to claim.

She tried to fight, tried to scream, turning to the darkness for help.

It was there, writhing, screeching, frothing at the edge of the dim light, straining to get to her, get somewhere it didn't belong, willing to sacrifice pieces of its existence just for her.

There was only one way to save herself, one way to feel the warmth of the dark caressing her senses.

She stepped to the dark.

Ice wrapped tighter around her neck.

She fought, tore, bled, for the next step.

It cut off her air.

Determination roared through her blood as she took another step, enough for the darkness to manipulate the last of the light. The ice would fall.

She made sure of it.

\---******---

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
